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Another Trump national security official fired

Trump national security appointee Craig Deare has been fired.

Trump national security appointee Craig Deare has been fired.

Another senior Trump administration national Security official has been fired after he criticised President Donald Trump’s policies and his inner circle of advisers in a private speech.

Craig Deare, appointed by Mr Trump a month ago to head the National Security Council’s (NSC) Western Hemisphere division, was on Friday escorted out of the Executive Office Building in Washington, the Associated Press reports.

A senior White House official confirmed that Mr Deare is no longer working at the NSC and has returned to the position he previously held at the National Defense University.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Sunday US time that Mr Deare “was sent back to his original position”.

Asked if government employees should be concerned that they could be fired for criticising the president, she said: “I don’t think any person that is there in order to carry out the president’s agenda should be against the president’s agenda.”

Mr Deare is the second senior NSC official to leave in under a week.

On Monday, Mr Trump’s national security adviser, retired general Michael Flynn, resigned after revelations that he discussed sanctions with a Russian diplomat before Trump was sworn in, then misled Vice President Mike Pence about the nature of those conversations.

Current and former administration officials told the AP that Mr Deare’s termination was linked to remarks he made on Thursday at a private talk at the Wilson Center, a Washington think tank.

According to one person who attended the discussion, Mr Deare slammed the Trump administration for its policies on Latin America, specifically its rocky start to relations with Mexico.

Mr Trump signed an order in the first week of his presidency to build a border wall with Mexico, jumpstarting a campaign promise.

The move prompted Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto to cancel his trip to Washington in late January. 

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The person who attended the Wilson Center discussion also told AP that Mr Deare openly expressed frustration over being cut out of most of the policy discussions about Mexico, saying that members of Trump’s inner circle, including chief strategist Steve Bannon and Mr Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, have not consulted with NSC directorates as the White House formulates policy.

The person who attended the Wilson Center talk also noted that Mr Deare made several remarks about how attractive Trump’s daughter Ivanka appeared, remarks that person described as “awkward”.

– With AP

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