FAKE NEWS/MCMASTER/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The Trump administration batted down a new report on Thursday that national security adviser H.R. McMaster could be on his way out, with President Donald Trump telling a spokesman for the National Security Council that the article was ‘fake news.’…
Raj Shah, the White House principal deputy press secretary, also cast doubt on reports of McMaster’s looming departure, telling pool reporters that the administration often dealt with ‘rumor and innuendo about senior administration officials.’…
NBC News, citing five anonymous sources, reported that the White House was readying itself to replace McMaster as soon as next month. The report says the decision has been ‘orchestrated by chief of staff John Kelly and Defense Secretary James Mattis.’…
Speculation surrounding McMaster’s status has swirled for months, with senior Trump administration officials telling POLITICO last week that Kelly and Trump contemplated in November firing the Army general…
The relationship between Trump and his national security adviser — whom aides say never quite clicked with the president — was publicly tested last month when the commander in chief took issue with McMaster’s saying that evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 election was ‘incontrovertible.’ “
–Christiano Lima, “Trump calls report of looming McMaster exit ‘fake news,’ aide says,” Politico, March 1, 2018 06:20pm