Criticized by Peers, White House Counterterrorism Adviser Returns Fire
“The statements made from the very beginning led me to believe that it was a prank call,” Smith tells NPR. “Because he’s calling me from a cellphone suggesting that he wants to talk about official business — specifically, elevating awareness of my tweets about him to White House legal counsel.”
Smith has been a prominent critic of Gorka, questioning the 46-year-old British immigrant’s qualifications to be Trump’s new counterterrorism czar.
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“I frankly was stunned that the administration would hire him to work in the White House on such critical issues as counterterrorism,” says Smith, a Republican who voted for Trump. “This could blow up in our faces, to have basically an amateur working on such important policies and working with people like [White House chief strategist] Steve Bannon.”
More: Criticized By Peers, White House Counterterrorism Adviser Returns Fire : NPR