Barely an hour after embattled Gen. Michael Flynn submitted his resignation as head of the National Security Council, one-time CIA Director David Petraeus emerged as a leading candidate to take over the NSC.
Forced to leave the CIA helm four years ago in the wake of admission of an extramarital affair while a top Army general, Petraeus has nonetheless enjoyed something of a comeback by the Washington, D.C., political community.
Flynn submitted his resignation late Monday evening, three days after White House counselor Steve Bannon reportedly demanded he leave. For more than a week, the retired lieutenant general and one-time Defense Intelligence Agency head had been battered by press reports he had not been forthcoming about his full dealings with Russia as a private business consultant.
Although President Trump has tapped retired Gen. Keith Kellogg as an interim successor to Flynn, White House sources say it is highly unlikely he will be named as permanent national security adviser.
Once likened to Gen. Douglas MacArthur as the most brilliant military commanders of his generation, West Point graduate Petraeus, 64, rose to be commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and as commanding general of the Multi-National Force (MNF-1) overseeing all coalition forces in Iraq.
Dismissing calls he seek the Republican nomination for president, Petraeus stunned many fans on the right by accepting President Barack Obama's offer to head the CIA in September 2011. Fourteen months later, he resigned over the extramarital affair with his biographer and eventually pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified information.
Also mentioned for the open position are: present deputy NSC official K.T. McFarland, a veteran of the President Ronald Reagan administration; and retired Adm. Bob Harward, a one-time U.S. Navy SEAL and one-time deputy head of U.S. Central Command under Secretary of Defense James Mattis.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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