White House Fires Senior Adviser After First Lady Melania Trump Called For Her Removal
all right so moving on to the issue of mrs. Trump the first lady and her office
releasing this you know sort of really kind of unprecedented statement today
saying that with regard to the exit of Mira Ricard L who was a deputy for the
National Security Advisor John Bolton her office said it is the position of
the office of the first lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in
this White House referring to mr. Cordell is that unusual yeah very much
so and look I think one thing that you've
seen from the first lady is she chooses her causes her statements very
deliberately she when she speaks it's for a reason and I think that she gives
obviously as she mentioned that interview with David Muir that you
played she gives constant advice to her for her
husband she is an unbelievable political strategist and for her to come out
publicly and say this is really said something about the relationship that
this particular staffer clearly has with the East Wing and I would think that
this wasn't the first rodeo or encounter that they had you've got to really worn
out your welcome the first suggestion is that there was you know some
disagreement on the Africa trip so that makes that sound bite that we just
played from ABC particularly pertinent but also that this woman may have been
leaking stories about her this is the second person who's an aide to John
Bolton to exit the White House and apparently the defense secretary mattis
was also had some issues with some of these individuals so does that signal to
you that that matters this position is strengthened or that bolton's is
weakened I mean what we know what can we take away from this here's my take away
don't underestimate the first lady ever when she speaks take it seriously she's
got unbelievable political instincts her husband takes her counsel very seriously
she is very savvy when it comes to the media and the political strategy of her
husband so I would never in my life cross her and
idea that it came to a public statement tells you that this particular person
clearly didn't get the hint very very interesting okay Sean thank you so much
good to see you tonight unclear what if any role the first lady is playing in
the staff shake-up but despite her unambiguous statement yesterday about me
Ricardo of the National Security Council here is the statement it is the position
of the office of the first lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving
in the White House now a source tells Fox News the first lady was merely
expressing her opinion not calling on Ricardo to be fired that was a reported
falling out between the first lady's office and Ricardo over mrs. Trump's
recent trip to Africa the statement from the first lady's office came out while
Ricardo's boss National Security Advisor John Bolton was out of the country
adding to the chaos of such an unprecedent statement from the East Wing
from the West Wing this evening in the past 45 minutes me Ricardo will continue
to support the president as she departs the White House to transition to a new
role within the administration Martha unclear what that role is going to be if
this has you wondering whose job at the White House is safe you are not alone
among those even who work in the West Wing Leland thank you very much so join
now by ari fleischer former White House press secretary under President George W
Bush jason Chaffetz former House Oversight Committee chairman and Jessica
Tarlov director of research at bustled comm all our foxnews contributors all
right let me start with you you have worked in the West Wing what do you read
here on these tea leaves well let me make two points number one most
Americans don't know the names of anybody who works at the White House and
the President and the Vice President and they don't care they just care about the
decisions that are made second point this is one chaotic White
House and I have never in my life as much as I've gotten used to the chaos at
the Trump White House seen a first lady have to go public and issue a statement
and I'm just stunned that this wasn't handled privately that it reached the
boiling point where she felt the need to go out issue something publicly yes she
has from the first first lady re who has
expressed her displeasure Hillary fired entire travel team and there are other
examples what she just did it and she it was it was not as she put out a press
statement urging for it to be done and and that back not Hillary my point is
here first ladies have tremendous power they have the power of talking to the
president and then the president makes that power felt in this instance I don't
know why she had to go public it tells me she went to the president he didn't
do it and yet you still have to go public
that's chaotic Jason well look I I'm with the first lady on this one it's
rare to none that the first lady says much of anything and it must have been
awfully bad I think it also is very telling that this comes roughly a month
after she took this trip into Africa and it may be more about the aftermath I
mean they may be swabbing about a seat on an airplane was one of the reports
but how that went down and what did and did not happen if somebody wasn't
truthful if somebody was maybe exaggerating what happened or changing
their story you very quickly in a small office like
the the West Wing you start to understand that maybe that gets out of
the skin of somebody so I I think Melania Trump I think she has earned the
trust of so many of us because she does speak so infrequently to make this hard
stand and make such a statement is very compelling and I think it's probably
best that they separate and go different ways for some of these reports Jessica
like she may have been speaking for other people as well there were reports
that this woman Mira was you know sort of bullying people talking down to them
and as Leyland rightly pointed out in his intro here sometimes there are
stories that get out there because other people want other people to be fired so
they start saying I'll see things about them and you know time will tell
absolutely will you certainly know about leaking in this White House for a
certain purpose and to Jason's point we don't really know what happened aboard
that's lighter on that two-week trip but obviously the first lady was extremely
displeased with her interactions with this woman
Bloomberg is also reporting this evening that she had a bad reputation for being
inflexible within the West Wing and when you think about how chaotic and
kind of fly by the seat of their pants this administration is for kind of more
George Bush type approach to working in the West Wing that's where she came from
originally two years back with the re I guess it
might not have fit in with the vibe of this White House generally and not if
not just been a problem that Melania had with her I want to play somebody from my
interview a couple weeks ago with Christian Nielsen watch this ambassador
Boehm has a big job to do he and I work very closely together so you don't think
that John Bolton is in the president's ear saying we're not tough enough on the
border you got to make a change at homeland I do not think he does know so
the big question here you know for America as already pointed out most
people don't care about the deckchairs when they move around on the deck but
they do care about Homeland Security and they do care about who's running the
country Jason so when you look at this administration and you look at the
cabinet do you do you think changes need to be made or is this not appropriate
well the president's taking a very tough stance on immigration and you know when
you talk to people kind of within the bowels of the organization there's a lot
of frustration that maybe secretary Nielsen has not moved things fast enough
move them aggressive aggressively and on I mean Congress really has to make these
changes oh yeah he's not gonna pay for the wall
trying to build the wall herself Congress needs to make these changes I
don't know how much more she could have done what do you think she should have
done Jason but I'd also think that secretary just have to go to Congress
and help make that case and have them understand what's going on and not going
on at the border in the imperative that she needs yeah look I'm very supporter
on the outside but behind the scenes there's obviously something that's
bothering the president because it's not moving fast enough what do you think Ari
well I think the president is perfectly entitled to make whatever changes he
wants it's part of the tradition of midterms but here's my advice if you
make a change have the replacement ready to go the same day you make the
announcement because otherwise you create these vacuums and in Washington
the vacuum was filled by nothing but nastiness and negativity but if you
announce X's out Y is in you've now created a debate over the qualifications
of Y typically that's a stronger better debate for you to be involved in so make
whatever moves you want to make but then have those names ready to roll
same day yeah great point and everybody obviously does the things
serve at the pleasure of the president and it's my experience that when you
watch these changes happen it's the big dust-up for about 24 hours and then
everybody gets used to the new person and that person steps in front of the
microphone and everyone accepts that person as as the new one that they are
hearing from Jessica and yet I hear you know all across many other media outlets
every third day pretty much that there is complete meltdown that the White
House is melting down that is practically not functioning and yet it
seems to go on it does seem to go on but that might just be in meltdown mode and
they might be really good at handling it to your question that you posed to Jason
about what else she could have done I think that the president has not enjoyed
some of her media appearances like with our own Chris Wallace where he really
pressured her about the caravan talking about the women and the babies who are
in there and the president's language that these are ms-13 members gang
members there were drug trafficking they're bringing an infestation etc she
also struggled during the family separation policy not her first outing
but when she had to come out again and face the press on this issue he
apparently refers to her as bushy he has problems with members of the George W
Bush administration and I think that he might be looking at someone like Chris
Kobach and if i pronouncing that properly from kansas who didn't win his
race someone that's a hardliner an immigration who also shares his point of
view about voter fraud which has been debunked
so I think that he is looking for someone who is more hardline if he was
going to be replacing her all right thanks everybody great to see you
tonight thank you thank you god bless you and God bless america
you
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