President Donald Trump, by naming his initial national security advisor Michael Waltz as his pick for ambassador to the United Nations, reflects the need to “have a team he’s comfortable with,” Robert Wilkie, a former undersecretary for the Department of Defense, said on Newsmax Friday. 

“I think this is another iteration of that,” Wilkie told Newsmax’s “Wake Up America,” while refusing to speculate who Trump will pick to replace Waltz. “The most important thing is not the staff at the White House; it’s the direction that the president has set.”

The news about Waltz, meanwhile, is overshadowing the win Trump has pulled off in Ukraine with the agreement on rare earth mining, Wilkie said. 

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