Politics & Government

McMaster Said Trump Had Intelligence Of A Kindergartener: Report

The administration has denied that the national security adviser made the comments.

WASHINGTON, DC — National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster said in a private conversation that President Trump has the intelligence of a kindergartner, according to a BuzzFeed News report citing five anonymous sources familiar with the conversation.

The report echoes a similar story from October by NBC News that alleged that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had called Trump a "moron." While Tillerson voiced his support for the president shortly after that report was made public, he was slow to deny that he had actually made the comment.

According to BuzzFeed News, McMaster made his remarks at a dinner with Oracle CEO Safra Catz, who is a potential candidate for jobs in the administration. Both the administration and Oracle have denied the report about McMaster's comments, which says that he also called Trump an "idiot and a "dope," but four of BuzzFeed's sources said they heard about the remarks directly from Catz. A sixth source told BuzzFeed that McMaster had made similar comments in private, "including that the president lacked the necessary brainpower to understand the matters before the National Security Council."

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