White House aide Kellyanne Conway appeared with Bill Hemmer on Fox News on Sunday to talk about the future of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy after John Bolton’s departure — and she said Trump might hire a new National Security adviser sooner than later.
With tensions again teetering on the brink of war, the Trump White House is still interviewing candidates to replace Bolton. But as Trump mulls how to punish Iran, Conway said that a replacement for “Mr. Tough Guy” could come “as soon as this week or the next week.”
A new “Mr. Tough Guy”
Conway’s comments come just days after the president gave Bolton a very public dressing down for “very big mistakes” after unceremoniously firing his National Security adviser, who he mockingly called “Mr. Tough Guy” for getting America involved in the Iraq War. Reports of tensions brewing between Trump and Bolton have long followed the ex-adviser, and a private conflict between Trump and Bolton was widely seen as having driven U.S.–Iran tensions that almost broke into open war in June, when Trump narrowly decided against launching missiles at Iran.
In light of Bolton’s firing, Conway said that Trump is a “great reader” of ambitious advisers with personal agendas, but insisted that she was not making a comment about Bolton, noting that Trump and Bolton were “aligned on many different issues” and intimating that Bolton left on good terms.
“[Trump] thanked Ambassador Bolton for his service, as I do,” Conway said. “People who want to serve…on behalf of our country at that level and take an oath to the Constitution should be applauded, not derided.”
Politico reports that Conway has suggested in recent days that Trump might tap Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to serve in Bolton’s role, as well as continuing in his current role in the Cabinet. Other officials said to be in the running include top Pompeo aides Brian Hook — the U.S. envoy to Iran — and Stephen Biegen — U.S. envoy to North Korea — as well as U.S. ambassador to Germany Ric Grenell, and non-interventionist retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor, according to The Washington Examiner.
“Locked and loaded”
With Bolton’s seat open, Trump has zig-zagged drastically as speculation mounts on the future of his foreign policy. Trump has confusingly indicated, as Conway suggested, that he actually agreed with Bolton on a lot, hinting last week that Bolton was “holding him back” from taking an even more hardline path against Cuba and Venezuela.
But Trump has simultaneously attacked Bolton for supporting the Iraq War and dinged his ex-adviser for setting back diplomacy with North Korea.
As for Iran, after firing Bolton, Trump suggested that he was open to meeting with Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani, but the weekend attacks again obscured Trump’s desires as the president began escalating rhetoric against the regime, saying that America was “locked and loaded” Sunday and prepared to strike back.
“The president’s agenda”
Asked by Fox’s Hemmer whether airstrikes were on the table, Conway demurred, saying merely that Trump was leaving “many options on the table” before echoing Pompeo in blaming Iran and bragging that Trump and his national security team “don’t sit around and say ‘let’s study it, let’s have a commission on it.’ Secretary Pompeo went right out and pointed the finger at the aggressor here,” she said.
“The Iranian regime is responsible for this attack on civilian areas and infrastructure vital to our global energy supply and we’re not going to stand for that,” Conway added. “We will continue to call out maligned behavior, [we will] continue [our] maximum pressure campaign in Iran and this is a president who withdrew us from a very bad nuclear deal with a ne’er-do-well regime.”
Conway maintained that Trump is still considering a meeting with Rouhani, but Iran dismissed the possibility as of Monday, according to The Hill. For those searching for some clarity amid the confusion, Conway said that going forward, foreign policy will be dictated by the president and hinted that Trump wants to end wars, like he promised during his 2016 campaign.
“It is the president’s agenda, his foreign policy, and national security beliefs which will go forward,” Conway said.
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