A sharp-elbowed top deputy for national security adviser John Bolton is expected to be fired after First Lady Melania Trump publicly pushed for the ouster in a rare rebuke of a senior official in her husband’s administration.
In a terse statement first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the first lady communicated her wish that deputy national security adviser Mira Ricardel get the axe.
"It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that [Ricardel] no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House," the first lady's communications director Stephanie Grisham said in the statement, the Journal reported.
Ricardel was still in the White House Tuesday, the Journal reported.
According to the Journal, the expected firing was triggered by Ricardel’s clash with the first lady’s staff during FLOTUS’ trip to Africa last month, which involved seating on the plane and requests to use National Security Council resources.
CNN reported that a White House official accused Ricardel of being dishonest about the feud and subsequently leaking stories to try to cover her behavior.
But even before the East Wing dust-up, Ricardel repeatedly tangled with Defense Secretary James Mattis, CNN reported — a rivalry that goes back to the presidential transition when she tried to block Mattis from hiring people who’d either been critical of, or insufficiently loyal to Trump.
Tensions have also been rising between Ricardel and chief of staff John Kelly and his deputy Zach Fuentes, CNN reported — with the pair believing Ricardel was leaking negative stories about them to the press.
According to the Journal, Kelly has been looking for ways to force Ricardel out for weeks. The first lady and her staff discussed the issue with the president during his recent trip to Paris, and Trump told his wife he’d have Ricardel removed, the Journal reported.
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