Trump's new pick for national security adviser turns down offer

WASHINGTON — Robert S. Harward, the retired vice admiral and former Navy SEAL who was President Donald Trump's top choice to replace his ousted national security adviser, on Thursday turned down the post in the latest setback for a White House already in turmoil.

"This job requires 24 hours a day, seven days a week focus and commitment to do it right," Harward said in a statement. "I currently could not make that commitment."

He added that since retiring from a 40-year military career, he now had "the opportunity to address financial and family issues that would have been challenging in this position."

Two senior administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, confirmed that Harward cited family and financial considerations in turning down the post.

[Flynn told FBI he did not discuss sanctions with Russian ambassador]

But his decision reflected the continuing upheaval in Trump's White House, which was rocked this week by the resignation of Michael T. Flynn, the national security adviser, quickly followed by the abrupt withdrawal of Andrew Puzder, his nominee for secretary of labor.

White House officials had scrambled to head off the refusal, asserting as late as Thursday evening that Harward, who is close to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, was still in the running to become Trump's national security adviser.

Current and former national security officials familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment, said Harward had harbored strong reservations from the beginning about taking the post because of Trump's unpredictable style and the level of chaos that has engulfed his White House. Those were only underscored this week in the politically charged aftermath of Flynn's ouster, despite the attempts of Trump's inner circle to allay his concerns.

One person briefed on the discussions said that Harward — who had been interviewing for a different administration post when he was tabbed for the NSC — had been startled by media accounts of Trump telling deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland, who was close to Flynn, that she could stay in her post. It added to his concerns about working for a mercurial president.

Trump suggested earlier Thursday that he had demanded Flynn's resignation on Monday partly because of enthusiasm about an unnamed person he had in mind to replace him. The president had known since last month that Flynn had misrepresented conversations he had with the Russian ambassador to the United States, before Trump was inaugurated, about American sanctions on Moscow.

"I have somebody that I think will be outstanding for the position," Trump said at a news conference Thursday. "And that also helps, I think, in the making of my decision."

But by then Harward, who is a top executive at Lockheed Martin, had decided he was not willing to take the post. He wrote to Trump and Mattis conveying his decision, two of the officials said.

Trump's National Security Council has become embroiled in political controversy. In an executive order last month — which Trump later complained privately that he had not been fully briefed on — the president placed Stephen K. Bannon, his chief strategist, on its principals committee, giving a political adviser a position of parity with the secretaries of state and defense, and with the national security adviser.

Two former national security officials who have worked closely with Harward said he would have been unlikely to take the position without assurances from Trump that he could run the NSC free of intervention by political advisers. They also spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the matter.

Harward's withdrawal from consideration prompted David H. Petraeus, the former general and director of the CIA, to step up his lobbying for the national security adviser post, which he badly wants, according to officials familiar with the process.

Petraeus was forced to resign from the CIA in 2012 after admitting that he had an extramarital affair. In 2015, he was sentenced to two years' probation for providing classified information to the woman with whom he was having the affair and fined $100,000.