As many as four people are in contention to replace Mike Flynn as national security adviser, President Trump tweeted said Friday morning.
“General Keith Kellogg, who I have known for a long time, is very much in play for NSA – as are three others,” Trump tweeted. Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general, has been Trump’s acting national security adviser since Flynn was fired Monday night.
On Thursday night, Trump’s top pick for the job, retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward, turned Trump down for the job in order to address “financial and family issues,” but other reports say he viewed the young administration as too chaotic to join.
Trump’s Friday morning tweet is an echo of his selection process for the Supreme Court, when Trump built suspense until the day he announced Judge Neil Gorsuch was going to be his pick. Trump did not give any clues as to who the other three people would be.
Earlier, on Fox News, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said retired Gen. David Petraeus was also in contention for the post.
NBC news reported retired Gens. Keith Alexander and Jim Jones are the other two in contention. Like Petraeus, both generals served under President Obama, Alexander as head of the National Security Agency and Jones as Obama’s national security adviser.
Trump fired Flynn after media reports showed he had not been completely truthful with Vice President Mike Pence in his statements about phone calls with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in December. Trump said he was fine with Flynn making the calls, and even possibly discussing President Obama’s sanctions with Kislyak, but the misleading conversation with Pence was too much to bear.
