On Tuesday, the US President Donald Trump revealed his short list of candidates to replace former national security advisor John Bolton. Earlier in September, the “foreign policy hawk” resigned due to irreconcilable differences with the President.
Speaking to reporters, Trump noted that he is considering Robert O’Brien, Ricky Waddell, Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, Fred Fleitz and Keith Kellogg to become his fifth national security advisor.
Robert O’Brien oversees hostage affairs at the US State Department. Previously, he served as the Co-Chairman of the U.S. Department of State Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan under both Secretaries Rice and Clinton. “I think he’s fantastic,” Trump characterized O’Brien.
Ricky L. Waddell is an Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who previously served as a Deputy National Security Adviser to Donald Trump. “I like [him] a lot”, Trump commented on Waddell’s candidacy.
Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, in turn, is the Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and NNSA Administrator. Earlier, she served as the Director of Combating Terrorism on the National Security Council.
Since January 2019, Fred Fleitz is the President and CEO of the Center for Security Policy in Washington, DC. Fleitz is a former CIA analyst who once was Bolton’s chief of staff. In 2017, he told Breitbart News that "the problem with these Muslim communities is that it is making them susceptible to this radical world view that wants to destroy modern society, create a global caliphate, and impose sharia law on everyone on Earth."
Keith Kellogg serves as the National Security Advisor to Vice President Mike Pence. “He’s been with me from the beginning. He’s great,” Trump told the journalists.
“A lot of people want the job — it’s a great job. It’s great because it’s a lot of fun to work with Donald Trump. It’s very easy actually to work with me. You know why it’s easy? Because I make all the decisions. They don’t have to work,” Trump stated last week describing his appointment process.
As “Apostrophe” reported earlier, John Bolton has always been a huge critic of the Kremlin.