There are few eternal truths that have more solidity than the fact that in order to be happy, you gotta do what your wife tells you. That’s exactly what Trump just did.
A day after @FLOTUS arranged statement calling for dismissal of Deputy Natl Security Advisor Mira Ricardel, WH announces she's leaving her WH position. @PressSec announces that Ricardel will "transition to a new role within the Administration." No official reason is given.
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) November 14, 2018
Statement from Sarah Sanders: “Mira Ricardel will continue to support the President as she departs the White House to transition to a new role within the Administration. The President is grateful for Ms. Ricardel’s continued service to the American people..."
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) November 14, 2018
Here’s what the New York Times reported:
She bad-mouthed the defense secretary. She was the hatchet woman for John R. Bolton, the famously combative national security adviser, and drove out staff members from the National Security Council who were deemed insufficiently conservative or loyal.
But in disparaging two members of Melania Trump’s staff who traveled with Mrs. Trump, the first lady, on her trip last month to Africa, Mira Ricardel, a deputy national security adviser, apparently went too far.
For weeks, Mrs. Trump had warned her husband’s aides that Ms. Ricardel, who is widely distrusted among West Wing staff, was spreading negative stories, including about Mrs. Trump, two people familiar with the discussions said.
Ms. Ricardel had announced the trip before it was fully planned, according to one of the people, and then threatened to pull resources for it after learning that she did not have a seat on Mrs. Trump’s plane. After the trip ended, Ms. Ricardel made accusations of inappropriate behavior by Mrs. Trump’s most trusted staff members, including Lindsay Reynolds, the first lady’s chief of staff — claims that a person close to the first lady said were false.
Supposedly, she has never even met Melania:
Senior WH official tells me Mira Ricardel is one of the highest ranking women in the Trump Administration, was Senate confirmed for her Commerce position, and has never met the First Lady.
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) November 14, 2018
So what is the deal here?!?!
Wait:
My guess: Mira Ricardel was sitting right in front of Melania and then fully reclined her seat for the whole flight - even during meal service.
— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) November 14, 2018
Hmm.