Just over a month ago, retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster received an unexpected call on his personal cell, four sources told CBS News. It was from the White House and he was instructed by the voice on the other end to stand by for the president.
McMaster, who had served as national security adviser during President Trump’s first term and was ousted after 13 months, was surprised to hear from Mr. Trump at all.
Just a day earlier, on March 2, Mr. Trump had lobbed his latest insult at McMaster, blasting him on social media as a “weak and totally ineffective loser.” McMaster had also just appeared on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” where he voiced skepticism about Mr. Trump’s overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Putin’s willingness to end the war in Ukraine.
“Henry…” is how Trump opened the call before launching into the conversation, according to two sources who were not authorized to discuss private conversations.
It was then that McMaster knew this familiar voice was indeed Mr. Trump. But he also realized something else: the commander-in-chief had not intended to call him at all.
McMaster goes by H.R., short for Herbert Raymond. Not Henry.
“Mr. President, this is H.R. McMaster,” he said into the phone.
“Why the f*** would I talk” to H.R. McMaster? Trump asked dismissively, and then Trump launched into a scathing critique of his former aide, two sources said.
The call was brief.
Two sources told CBS News that the president intended to call South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, not his former national security adviser.
It is unclear who bears responsibility for dialing the wrong McMaster. According to one person familiar with the call, the call was placed by an aide who works with the president.
A White House official declined to discuss the president’s private calls or whether a phone conversation took place.
In a statement, White House communications director Steven Cheung criticized the former national security adviser.
“H.R. McMaster has completely beclowned himself and his third-rate book, which is now sold in the bargain bin of the fiction section of a discount bookstore, is filled with lies in a futile attempt to rehabilitate his tattered reputation,” Cheung said.
H.R. McMaster, a CBS News contributor, declined to comment.
McMaster has been outspoken about Trump’s views on Putin and how he believes the Russian leader “played to Trump’s ego and insecurities with flattery,” as he wrote in his recent memoir, “At War with Ourselves.”
The mistaken phone call on March 3 came several days before Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was mistakenly added to a group chat with top Trump national security advisers that included a discussion of sensitive information about U.S. military strikes in Yemen.
The current national security adviser, Mike Waltz, told Fox News he takes “full responsibility” for the group chat episode.
Arden Farhi
contributed to this report.
