“[General H.R. McMaster] has determined that, at this time, a different set of experiences is best-suited to carrying that work forward," a White House official said in a statement. | Evan Vucci/AP McMaster dismisses another Flynn hire from National Security Council Ezra Cohen-Watnick was one of the few remaining aides hired by Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster has pushed out a top White House intelligence aide who earlier this year secretly shared information with a Republican lawmaker investigating ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The dismissal of Ezra Cohen-Watnick, confirmed by the White House, is the latest in a string of NSC staff members removed at the behest of McMaster, who has steadily shed aides that had been brought on by his short-lived predecessor Michael Flynn.


Cohen-Watnick, 31, was one of the few remaining aides in the organization hired by Flynn, who was fired in February. Since his arrival McMaster has had a hand in steadily cleaning out several of Flynn’s marquee hires – three of them in the past three weeks.

“General McMaster appreciates the good work accomplished in the NSC's Intelligence directorate under Ezra Cohen's leadership,” a White House official said in a statement circulated via pool report. “He has determined that, at this time, a different set of experiences is best-suited to carrying that work forward. General McMaster is confident that Ezra will make many further significant contributions to national security in another position in the administration.”

McMaster’s first attempt to sideline Cohen-Watnick came in March after CIA analysts complained about working with him, according to a POLITICO report .

Morning Defense newsletter Sign up for Morning Defense, a daily briefing on Washington's national security apparatus. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

But Cohen-Watnick appealed to Trump’s chief strategist, Steve Bannon, and the president’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, with whom he had developed a close relationship during the transition. They took the matter directly to the Trump, who overruled his national security adviser.

Cohen-Watnick’s fate came into question again in late March when he was identified as one of two White House officials who had helped provide the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes, with intelligence reports indicating that former national security adviser Susan Rice had “unmasked” the identities of several Trump associates contained in classified documents about Russian government efforts to steal the emails of leading Democratic Party officials.

A source familiar with the situation told POLITICO on Wednesday that Cohen-Watnick had recently begun planning on leaving the NSC and talked with Kushner and top NSC official Dina Powell, and they agreed to help him find a spot elsewhere in the administration.

In recent months, McMaster and Cohen-Watnick apparently developed a more amicable relationship, the official related. But McMaster was extremely upset about a headline in an recent article in The Atlantic titled: 'The Man McMaster Couldn't Fire.'

McMaster’s removal of Cohen-Watnick provides a window into the way he has slowly and deliberately taken control of the organization despite resistance from the top — and amid rumors of his own uncertain future. Another NSC aide was reportedly dismissed earlier Wednesday.

McMaster has clashed with the president on a number of issues, and the two are not personally close. But in his five months as national security adviser, McMaster has dismissed at least six senior NSC officials brought on in the Flynn era, several of them fervent Trump loyalists.

Cohen-Watnick’s removal also coincides with the arrival at the White House of Gen. John Kelly, President Trump’s new chief of staff, who replaced Reince Priebus on Monday.

Cohen-Watnick did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Madeline Conway contributed to this report.