National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster is a "dedicated public servant" — and President Donald Trump said that "he had no intention of changing and that he looked forward to continue working with him," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday.
"Our focus is not on a lot of the news stories you would like us to be focused on," Sanders told reporters at the daily briefing. "We're actually focused on what the American people want us to do: that's to come here, do our jobs."
The Washington Post reported Thursday that Trump was removing McMaster and was "actively discussing potential replacements" as part of a broader shake-up of his administration.
Sanders took to Twitter shortly after the online report to say that she had talked with both Trump and McMaster.
"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 said Friday.
"Things like North Korea, Russia, Iran," she noted. "That's what he's doing.
"That's what we'll continue to be focused on every single day we show up for work."
Regarding a broader shake-up by President Trump, Sanders told reporters that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly told staffers Friday that "there are no immediate personnel changes at this time and people should not be concerned."
"We should do exactly what we do every day — and that's to come to work and do the very best job we can.
"That's exactly what we're doing and what we're focused on.
"We're going to continue to focus on having record success in the second year as we had in our first year and we fully expect to do that and as a staff and as a team," she said.
Sanders also slammed Democrats for holding up as many as 189 nominees via the confirmation process.
"The president shouldn't be bound because Democrats in the Senate can't do their job," she said.
"If the president wants to be able to make a change because he feels like it's the right thing for the American people, his hands shouldn't be tied because Democrats failed to do what they were elected to do.
"This president was elected to put forward policies and push those policies forward with the team that he selects, not the team that the Democrats think he should have.
"That's not how the system works.
"Just because they don't want the president to have his full team that doesn't mean if he decided to make changes he shouldn't be able to."
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