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Trump may be preparing for a wide-ranging firing spree by Eliza Relman on Mar 15, 2018, 1:44 PM Advertisement
 - President Donald Trump may be preparing to fire a host of top administration officials.
- Those reported to be on the chopping block include: national security adviser H.R. McMaster, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and White House chief of staff John Kelly.
President Donald Trump may be preparing to fire a host of top administration officials in the wake of his abrupt firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson this week. Here are the officials reportedly on the chopping block: - National security adviser H.R. McMaster: Fox News' White House correspondent John Roberts reported Wednesday that McMaster is at the front of Trump's firing line, with sources calling his departure "imminent." Tensions between McMaster, a disciplined three-star general who has reportedly chafed with Trump's spontaneous, disorganized style, have reportedly flared throughout McMaster's tenure and, at one point, he was rumored to have threatened to quit. Administration officials have told news outlets that the White House is looking for a four-star position in the Army or Department of Defense to promote McMaster into, moving him out of his current role. Roberts reported that John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, will replace the general.
- Attorney General Jeff Sessions: Vanity Fair reported on Wednesday that Trump is formulating a plan to fire Sessions, who has been a target of Trump's ire since he recused himself last year from the FBI's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election, following reports that he was not forthcoming during his Senate confirmation hearing about his contacts with Russian officials during the campaign. Most recently, Trump publicly condemned Sessions' failure to launch his own investigation into the handling of the Russia probe, calling him "DISGRACEFUL" in a brutal tweet in late February.
- Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin: Shulkin has reportedly also drawn ire from Trump following a spate of scandals in his agency, including reports that he misused taxpayer dollars to bring his wife on a trip to Europe and that he's attempting to purge the VA of employees not loyal to him. Shulkin's rumored replacements include Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Fox News co-host Pete Hegseth.
- Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe: Sessions is reviewing a recommendation from the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility to fire former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the New York Times reported Wednesday. McCabe was forced out of the FBI earlier this year amid an internal investigation by the Office of Inspector General into his approval of unauthorized disclosures to the media in October 2016 about the bureau's investigation into Hillary Clinton's email use. He's scheduled to retire on Sunday, and a possible firing — which sources told The Times could could as soon as Friday — could endanger his pension benefits.
- White House chief of staff John Kelly: The man brought into the White House to impose some discipline may be forced out, in part as a result of his controversial handling of domestic abuse allegations against former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, one of Kelly's top aides. Some of Trump's allies say it would be a "lethal" mistake for the president to oust Kelly, who many feel is a stabilizing force within the White House and helped quell some of the backbiting that plagued the administration for much of its first year.
Trump denies the reports, but then talks about more potential changes in his administration to come Trump called recent reports of potential staff firings "very exaggerated and false" on Thursday, but then alluded to more potential changes to come. "They wrote a story about staff changes and it was very false," Trump told a gathering of reporters at the White House. "There will always be change but very little. It was a very false story. A very exaggerated and false story. But there will always be change. And I think you want to see change. I want to also see different ideas." Trump added that CIA Director Mike Pompeo, whom he's nominated to replace Tillerson, and Larry Kudlow, a CNBC commentator he picked to replace outgoing economic adviser Gary Cohn, are examples of positive change in his administration. But White House staffers are describing an anxious mood amid rumors of another wave of firings, with one official calling it "the most toxic working environment on the planet," Axios reported Wednesday. "There's no leadership, no trust, no direction, and at this point there's very little hope," the official continued. "Would you want to go to work every day not knowing whether your future career was going to be destroyed without explanation?" Sonam Sheth, Allan Smith, and David Choi contributed reporting. SEE ALSO: Democrats' unlikely victory in Pennsylvania has provided them with a roadmap for taking back Congress
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