Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, is out. It was a long time coming.

Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster began his tenure as national security adviser as one of the most celebrated military leaders of his generation. But President Donald Trump let him go on Thursday after just over a year in the administration — leaving McMaster’s once-sterling reputation in tatters and the White House in even more disarray.

n a tweet, Trump announced that McMaster would make way for former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, but that McMaster “will always remain my friend.” McMaster will retire from the military, according to the New York Times. Bolton will assume McMaster’s role on April 9.

“H.R. McMaster has served his country with distinction for more than 30 years,” Trump said in a statement. “General McMaster’s leadership of the National Security Council staff has helped my administration accomplish great things to bolster America’s national security.”

On March 15, the Washington Post reported that Trump had decided to oust McMaster but didn’t do so because he wanted to ensure there was a prominent successor in place and that McMaster has his next job lined up. But now Trump finally followed through.

McMaster follows closely behind Rex Tillerson, whom Trump fired on March 13. Hours after Tillerson’s removal, McMaster told a reporter, “Hey, I’m still around.”

It wasn’t supposed to end this way. McMaster — along with Defense Secretary James Mattis and, at the time, Tillerson — was labeled an “adult” in the room whose military and strategic expertise would help him gain Trump’s trust and moderate the president’s most potentially dangerous foreign policy impulses.

Instead, McMaster soon found himself at odds with both the president and other top administration officials. Trump, for example, pushed back hard against McMaster on crucial national security decisions, particularly the decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan. - Read More

H.R. McMaster is out and John Bolton is in. McMaster's ouster was a ...