CBS News Doubles Down on Fired National Security Adviser, H.R. McMaster, in Latest Slight Against Trump: Report

President Trump’s frustrations with CBS News and its new owners are likely to deepen after it was reported that the Tiffany Network is re-signing a former national security adviser from his first term, Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, whom the president appears to hold in particularly low regard. On Wednesday, Puck’s Dylan Byers reported that CBS News had inked deals to bring on several new contributors, including General McMaster, who is retired from the military.Mr. Byers noted that “most” CBS News contributors get $30,000 upfront and about $1,000 for every appearance. Mr. Byers did not seem to realize that General McMaster has been a CBS News contributor since 2022 (he’s recently been seen on CBS News criticizing the Trump Administration’s strikes on boats in the Caribbean for a lack of transparency). Presumably, CBS News has re-upped General McMaster.President Trump speaks during a working lunch with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Cabinet Room of the White House, March 20, 2018, at Washington. From left, Trump, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, and the outgoing White House chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn. AP Photo/Evan VucciThe news of General McMaster’s staying power at CBS News comes as the once-hallowed news organization has faced renewed criticism from Mr. Trump, who has voiced frustration with what he called its biased coverage despite promises in writing from its new owner, David Ellison, that the network would produce fair journalism. Mr. Trump and General McMaster had a tense relationship, according to multiple reports. The former national security adviser disagreed with Mr. Trump on a range of policy issues, such as climate change and immigration. Beyond policy differences, General McMaster reportedly disliked many officials in the first Trump Administration and allegedly said that the president is a “dope” with the intelligence of a “kindergartner.”Mr. Trump reportedly does not have the best view of General McMaster. In the lead-up to General McMaster’s departure, the president reportedly disliked his “gruff and condescending” manner, CNN reported.Larry Ellison financed the purchase of Paramount Global for his only son, David Ellison, right. Getty ImagesMr. Trump announced General McMaster’s ouster by tweet in March 2018. In August 2024, during the presidential campaign, General McMaster published a critical book about Mr. Trump entitled “At War With Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House.” The book was a highly negative portrayal of Mr. Trump (This spring, the White House communications director, Steve Cheung, told CBS News that the “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.”)The president still appears to have quite a low opinion of General McMaster. After the general was interviewed on CBS News’s “60 Minutes” — in which he expressed skepticism of the president’s efforts to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — Mr. Trump posted on social media that he is a “weak and totally ineffective loser.”CBS News reported that Mr. Trump became frustrated after he accidentally called General McMaster in March 2025. When the president became aware he had been connected to his former aide, he reportedly asked, “Why the f*** would I talk to [General McMaster]?” The network reported that Mr. Trump “launched into a scathing critique of his former aide.”CBS News’ continued remuneration of General McMaster seems unlikely to help improve Mr. Trump’s opinion of CBS News and its new management.A former national security adviser to President Trump, H.R. McMaster, testifies during a hearing of a special House committee dedicated to countering China, on Capitol Hill, February 28, 2023. AP Photo/Alex BrandonBefore Mr. Ellison acquired CBS News, he promised the Trump Administration that he wanted to clean up the network’s liberal bias. He has taken several steps toward that goal, such as bringing on Bari Weiss as CBS News’s editor-in-chief and the former president of the right-leaning Hudson Institute, Kenneth Weinstein, to be the network’s ombudsman.However, since the Skydance takeover, “60 Minutes” has continued to run anti-Trump stories. Earlier this month, the newsmagazine program interviewed Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who used to be an ardent Trump supporter but has clashed with the president in recent months. After the interview with Ms. Greene aired, Mr. Trump fumed on Truth Social that the new owners of CBS News are “NO BETTER THAN THE OLD OWNERSHIP.”On Wednesday evening, despite CBS preempting the season finale of its hit show “Survivor” to air his primetime address — the network declined to show the White House-produced graphics that officials wanted the networks to display with the speech — the president downplayed his connections with the Ellisons. Oracle heir David Ellison (seen leaning over, in black) is present at a UFC event in Florida with President Trump earlier this year. Instagram“For those people that think I am close with the new owners of CBS, please understand that 60 Minutes has treated me far worse since the so-called ‘takeover,’ than they have ever treated me before. If they are friends, I’d hate to see my enemies!” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday. Mr. Ellison is trying to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN, and is mounting a hostile takeover bid to block Netflix’s acquisition of WBD’s streaming and studio assets and pull off an ambitious acquisition. But when Mr. Trump was asked about the bidding war, he said that “none of them are particularly great friends of mine.”While the president has expressed his disappointment with CBS News’s new owners, the network found itself featured prominently on the White House’s “media offenders” list earlier this month. CBS News did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

CBS News Doubles Down on Fired National Security Adviser, H.R. McMaster, in Latest Slight Against Trump: Report

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