First Lady Says an Aide ‘No Longer Deserves the Honor of Serving in This White House’

President Trump and his wife, Melania, in October at the White House. On Tuesday, Trump's office issued a statement that Mira Ricardel, deputy national security adviser, should no longer work at the White House.

WASHINGTON - She spoke badly about the Secretary of Defense. She was the leading woman of John R. Bolton, the notorious national security advisor, and dismissed members of the National Security Council staff who were considered insufficiently conservative or loyal.

But by scorning two members of Melania Trump's staff who accompanied Mrs. Trump, the first lady, during her trip to Africa last month, Mira Ricardel, deputy national security advisor, apparently went too far.

In a White House where the drama was constant, but almost always behind the scenes, an email from Stephanie Grisham, spokeswoman for the first lady, was sent to reporters Tuesday: this is the position of the office of the First lady, who no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House ".

The email was sent within an hour of Ms. Ricardel's appearance at an official White House event with President Trump.

However, towards the end of the afternoon, contradictory information was exchanged as to whether Ms Ricardel had been dismissed. The Wall Street Journal reported that she was brutally escorted out of the White House compound, but that two White House aides corrected her an hour later.

For weeks, Trump warned her husband's advisers that Ricardel, who has a lot of faith in West Wing staff, was telling negative stories, including about Ms. Trump, two people knew about the talks.

But the fact that Mrs. Ricardel was in limbo on Tuesday reflected an unusual amount of muscular flexion on the part of the first lady, which generally avoids internal intrigue in the palaces, as well as the limits of her influence. He also showed the obstinacy of Mrs. Ricardel's boss, Mr. Bolton, who has the reputation of being a cunning player in a chaotic white house and someone who is not intimidated, not even by the president's wife .

Ms. Trump's problems with Ms. Ricardel appear to be related to the first woman's trip to Africa in October, according to people with first-hand knowledge of the situation.

Mrs. Ricardel Tuesday at the White House. There were conflicting reports throughout the day as to whether she was still employed.

According to one of the individuals, Ms. Ricardel reportedly announced the trip prior to the full planning and then threatened to withdraw resources after learning that he was not sitting on Ms. Trump's plane. Once the trip was over, Ms. Ricardel accused Ms. Trump's most trustworthy staff members of acting inappropriately, including Lindsay Reynolds, the first lady's chief of staff, saying that someone close to the first lady had claimed it was a fake.

Ms. Trump then complained to John F. Kelly, Ricardel's White House chief of staff, and Mr. Kelly raised the issue with Mr. Bolton, two White House officials said. Kelly is theoretically the Bolton leader, but the national security adviser has so far refused to fire Ms. Ricardel, who was seen in his office on Tuesday afternoon.

Ms. Ricardel, a reference in Republican foreign policy, has reinforced her reputation as a hawk in politics and bureaucratic hell at the forefront of technology. In the early 1990s, he advised Senator Bob Dole in the Balkans, taking advantage of his Croatian origins, and then worked for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in the administration of President George W. Bush.

After supporting Trump's presidency, she was appointed to lead the Pentagon Transition Team. In this position, he faced Jim Mattis, the election of Trump's defense secretary, who prevented him from hiring Anne Patterson as Deputy Secretary of Defense for Politics, and rejected more of a dozen other candidates proposed by Mr. Mattis. for this position.

Mr. Mattis, in turn, attempted to block Ms. Ricardel when she was retained to fill positions in the Trump Administration, although she eventually served as Deputy Secretary of Commerce for the administration. exports before Mr. Bolton took him to council. of national security.

Ricardel, according to government officials, suspected Mr. Mattis of wanting to accuse the Pentagon of Democrats and supporters of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016. Shortly after Ms. Ricardel arrived at the National Security Council, Mr. Trump had participated in CBS's "60 Minutes" and said he believed Mr. Mattis was a Democrat.

The tragedy surrounding Ms. Ricardel was the culmination of a day of unbridled speculation about staff movements that Mr. Trump might consider.

Three people said that Trump is almost certain to dismiss Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of Homeland Security, who has long been the target of President's dissatisfaction. And we think Mr. Kelly's fate is tied to what happens to Ms. Nielsen.

In the White House, eliminating Ms. Nielsen is a way to expel Mr. Trump from Mr. Kelly, the president's senior adviser when he was Secretary of National Security, without having to fire him. Nick Ayers, Chief of Staff to Vice President Mike Pence, is considered a replacement for Kelly if he leaves.

It is almost certain that Trump will dismiss Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of Homeland Security, who has long been the target of President's dissatisfaction.

The Washington Post has announced for the first time that Ms. Nielsen may soon leave.

Ayers is favored by Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his daughter Ivanka Trump, who serve as advisers in the West Wing. Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., also told his friends that he considered Mr. Ayers "competent", a stamp that the Trump family has not always placed on the people who work for their father.

Ayers did not travel as originally planned with Mr. Pence on his official trip to Asia this week, two White House officials said. And another potential chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, who already runs two agencies and was running for the position of chief of staff, told the participants that he was no longer interested.

Several people at the White House told the President of their concern that Ayers would play this role and warned that some staff members might resign for this reason.

Last week, Mr. Trump's mood became moody as he turned to the medium-term loss advisers and was preparing for closed-door days with his lawyers this week to answer questions from the special advisor , Robert S. Mueller III. In Air Force One, on his way to Paris, he received a call from British Prime Minister Theresa May, who started cordially but quickly soured when Trump criticized the European position on Iran's denuclearization agreement, according to a report. report. No one familiar with the call.

The President hates interpersonal clashes and often allows assistants who do not like to stay in their jobs for uncomfortably long periods of time, which means that any change could last a few weeks, if nothing, even to do something about Ms. Ricardel, the people close to the president warned. Mr. Trump, however, became increasingly suspicious of Mr. Kelly and his closest associates telling stories.

But Nielsen has been the target of President's wrath for several months, mainly because of her government's "zero tolerance" immigration policy and her belief that she was not putting it into practice effectively. Mr. Trump mocked his service in the Bush administration and questioned his loyalty. She has also ensured that she is the face of the controversial border separation policy of removing children from their parents.

Kelly defended Ms. Nielsen in front of the president and tried to shield her from criticism from other cabinet members. Although some of Mr. Trump's allies consider their point of view and their treatment unfair to him.

Nielsen struggled to explain to the White House the complexities of border security. A ministry official said Ms. Nielsen had even rejected many of the measures suggested by extremist immigrants, even though she had continued her efforts to limit immigration. Other controversial policies The most recent effort is a proposal that would deny asylum to anyone illegally arrived in the country.

Employees believe that Ms. Nielsen's fate has been sealed by the disclosure of agency compliance data over the past two months, showing that while the total number of people detained at the border is still low, the number of families making the trip to the United States grew up.