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Updated 8 minutes ago
President Trump plans to speak Sunday with at least four candidates to be his next national security adviser, a spokesman said, signaling a desire to swiftly replace the ousted Michael Flynn.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Saturday that the candidates include John Bolton, a former United Nations ambassador; Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster; Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen, the superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point; and retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who is now serving in an acting capacity.
Trump, who is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., could also talk to others, Spicer said.
Spicer added that former CIA Director David Petraeus is out of the running.
Trump later told reporters that “many, many want the job” and that “I'll make a decision in the couple of days, but we're meeting with actually four of them tomorrow, all of whom want it.”
Trump added that he has a favorite, whom he did not name.
“I've been thinking about someone for the last three or four days. We'll see what happens,” he said. “I'm meeting with that person. They're all good, they're all great people.”
Trump is working to replace Flynn, who was asked to resign last week amid allegations that he discussed U.S. sanctions with a Russian official before Trump took office and then misrepresented the content of that conversation to Vice President Mike Pence and other administration officials.
Trump's first choice of a replacement — retired Navy Vice Adm. Robert Harward — turned him down.
Finding a new national security adviser has proved challenging for the president. He had also expressed interest in former CIA Director David Petraeus, but Spicer said Petraeus is no longer under consideration.
Petraeus, a retired four-star general, resigned as CIA director in 2012 and pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified information relating to documents he had provided to his biographer, with whom he was having an affair.
Flynn resigned at Trump's request Monday after revelations that he misled Pence about discussing sanctions with Russia's ambassador to the United States during the transition. Trump said in a news conference Thursday that he was disappointed by how Flynn had treated Pence, but did not believe Flynn had done anything wrong by having the conversations.
In an interview Saturday, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said Kellogg “is doing a great job.”
“It's not like we're sitting here without a job filled. It's filled,” Priebus said.
Just four weeks into his administration, Trump held a campaign rally in Florida on Saturday, repeating his political promises and continuing his attacks on the “dishonest media.”
“I want to be among my friends and among the people,” Trump told a cheering crowd packed into an airport hangar, praising his “truly great movement.”
Insisting he was the victim of false reporting, Trump said his White House was running “so smoothly” and that he “inherited one big mess.”
The president has been trying to refocus after reports of disarray and dysfunction within his administration.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One before the rally, Trump said he was holding a campaign rally because “Life is a campaign.”
“To make America great again is absolutely a campaign,” he said. “It's not easy, especially when we're also fighting the press.”
The rally came during Trump's third straight weekend at his private south Florida club, Mar-a-Lago.
Trump criticized the news media during a marathon news conference on Thursday and continued his admonishment Saturday, tweeting: “Don't believe the main stream (fake news) media. The White House is running VERY WELL. I inherited a MESS and am in the process of fixing it.”
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