The White House mistakenly set up a call between Donald Trump and former aide turn critic, retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, according to CBS News.
McMaster served as Trump’s national security adviser for 13 months during his first term before he was fired. He has since become a vocal critic of the president.
Last month, Trump slammed McMaster in a social media post calling him “A WEAK AND TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE LOSER” after McMaster appeared on 60 Minutes and voiced skepticism about Trump’s outreach to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
One day after the interview aired, McMaster received a call on his personal cellphone and was told to stand by for the president.
“Henry…” Trump said when he opened the call before launching into the conversation which McMaster realized had nothing to do with him.
“Mr. President, this is H.R. McMaster,” he said into the phone.
“Why the f*** would I talk” to H.R. McMaster? Trump asked dismissively, and then launched into a brief but scathing critique of his former aide.
Two sources told CBS that White House officials were suppose to call South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster (R), not Gen. McMaster. It is unclear who is responsible for the mix up.
In a statement, White House communications director Steven Cheung criticized the former national security adviser.
“H.R. McMaster has completely beclowned himself and his third-rate book, which is now sold in the bargain bin of the fiction section of a discount bookstore, is filled with lies in a futile attempt to rehabilitate his tattered reputation,” Cheung said.
McMaster published a book about his time in the White House last year in which he described Oval Office meetings with Trump as “exercises in competitive sycophancy.”
Trump’s advisers would flatter him by saying stuff like, “Your instincts are always right” or, “No one has ever been treated so badly by the press.” Meanwhile, Trump would say “outlandish” things like, “Why don’t we just bomb the drugs?” in Mexico or, “Why don’t we take out the whole North Korean Army during one of their parades?” McMaster wrote.
