CNN Analyst on Trump’s New Nat Sec Advisor: He Was an ‘Errand Boy’ in A$AP Rocky Crisis
CNN analyst and Washington Post editor David Swerdlick is not impressed with President Donald Trump’s decision to make Robert C. O’Brien his new National Security Advisor.
Swerdlick appeared on CNN to react Trump’s Twitter announcement that he’s choosing the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs to take John Bolton’s place. Swerdlick noted that O’Brien doesn’t have as many high-level qualifications as his predecessors, but also that the president has a warm relationship with O’Brien, given the fact that O’Brien was entrusted with getting A$AP Rocky out of prison in Sweden months ago.
“Close to the president and the president likes him is a qualification for a lot of positions in the administration,” said Swerdlick. “This one being no different.”
After Swerdlick assessed that Trump snap-chose O’Brien to help him deal with several pressing international developments, he expressed his view that O’Brien’s handling of the A$AP Rocky affair wasn’t a real demonstration of his capabilities.
“In that situation,” Swerdlick said, “he was functioning more like an errand boy than someone who was an independent adviser and senior State Department official…It suggests to me they are slightly downgrading this position. Someone to manage the National Security Council, but not necessarily be a Bolton, a team of rivals, a counterpoint to the others in the administration.”
Watch above, via CNN.
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