Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Friday that President Donald Trump should not "surround himself with yes-men" amid reports debunked by the White House that he may soon dismiss National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.
"It's important that the president not surround himself with yes-men," Panetta, who served under former President Barack Obama, told Wolf Blitzer on CNN.
"Any president needs to have people who are willing to express different opinions and to inform him about the full range of issues that need to be developed."
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Friday that President Trump said "he had no intention" of dismissing McMaster after The Washington Post reported Thursday that the key adviser would be let go as part of a broader shake-up.
"Gen. McMaster is a dedicated public servant and he is not focused on the news stories that many of you are writing, but on some really big issues," Sanders told reporters at the daily briefing.
The Post noted that one of McMaster's possible successors was former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, who is also a Fox News commentator.
"I know John Bolton and his history," Panetta told Blitzer, "but is he going to be just a yes-man or is he going to be somebody who would, in fact, provide other opinions for the president of the United States.
"If you're a national security adviser, you've got to say it the way it is — and I think it's important to have that kind of opinion presented to the president of the United States."
Panetta also reiterated his support for CIA Deputy Director Gina Haspel, whom Trump plans to nominate to succeed Director Mike Pompeo, whom he has designated to become secretary of state after firing Rex Tillerson on Monday.
"She was an officer when I was director of the CIA," Panetta, who headed the agency from 2009 to 2011, told Blitzer. "She was a good officer.
"She did her job and did it well."
He said that questions about Haspel's alleged support of waterboarding and other torture techniques should be explored during the confirmation process.
"It's important to ask those questions, because it's important to understand what took place then and look at her entire career," Panetta said.
"My hope would be that in the nomination process, the senators look at her entire record, ask her the questions they want to ask.
"But in the end, I do believe that she really would be a great CIA director."
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