Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Friday that President Donald Trump was moving "more to the right" with the appointment of John Bolton as national security adviser and nomination of CIA Director Mike Pompeo as secretary of state.
"In his national security council, we are seeing a move to the right — to a hawkish and more militaristic position," Panetta, who served under former President Barack Obama, told Jake Tapper on CNN.
He said that retired Air Force Gen. James Mattis, the current defense secretary, "has his hands full in trying to see if he can provide some common sense with regard to the decisions this president makes."
Trump tweeted Thursday that Bolton, 69, the former United Nations ambassador under President George W. Bush, would succeed H.R. McMaster on April 9.
Bolton accepted the job, saying on Twitter Friday that "I look forward to working with President Trump and his leadership team in addressing these complex challenges in an effort to make our country safer at home and stronger abroad."
McMaster, 55, a three-star Army lieutenant general, said he would retire from the military and "leave public service" this summer.
Panetta, who also served as CIA director, said he agreed with former Northern Ireland Ambassador Richard Haass, now president of the Council on Foreign Relations.
He tweeted Friday that Trump was "set for war on three fronts" — and, as a result, "this is the most perilous moment in modern American history."
"Richard Haass has hit the nail on the head," Panetta told Blitzer. "We're in a very disruptive and dangerous time.
"This president has added a trade war — and, at the same time, is by virtue of the moves he's making, indicating that there could be a pre-emptive military action that we could get involved with as well.
"It is, without question, a dangerous moment," he added. "I don't think we ought to take any of this lightly."
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