Trump appoints Fox News analyst as deputy NatSec adviser
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Fox News analyst KT McFarland to serve as deputy national security advisor to General Michael Flynn. Campaign finance lawyer Donald McGhan was reportedly chosen as White House counsel.
Kathleen Troia McFarland is currently a defense analyst for Fox News and host of the DEFCON program. She was on Henry Kissinger’s national security staff during the Nixon administration, and worked for Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger from 1982 to 1985, during the presidency of Ronald Reagan.
So proud & honored to have KT McFarland as part of our National Security team. She will help us #MAGA
— General Flynn (@GenFlynn) November 25, 2016
In 2006, she was defeated in a Republican primary bid to challenge Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat in New York. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and sits on the board of the Jamestown Foundation, a think-tank focused on China, Russia, Eurasia, and global terrorism.
McFarland will replace the current Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes.
Confirmed: KT McFarland for deputy national security adviser / Don McGahn will be White House counsel pic.twitter.com/46kgZU2LtO
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) November 25, 2016
Donald McGahn is a campaign finance lawyer who worked for the National Republican Campaign Committee before his appointment to the Federal Election Commission by President George W. Bush in 2008. He served on the FEC until 2013, including a term as chairman, advocating fewer restrictions on campaign finance, according to Politico.
The White House counsel is charged with advising the president on all legal issues concerning the administration, but does not serve as the president’s personal attorney. The office was created in 1943. McGahn will be replacing W. Neil Eggleston.
Neither position requires Senate confirmation.
