Coronavirus, Public Health McMaster says 'deep state narrative' 'very damaging' and calls for 9/11-style commission to examine pandemic response

Former national security adviser H.R. McMaster said the "deep state narrative" is "very damaging" to President Trump's administration.

The retired Army lieutenant general made the assertion this week during a discussion with Perry World House this week on the geopolitics of the coronavirus pandemic.

McMaster, who was national security adviser from February 2017 to April 2018, lamented the "tendency" within the administration to be deeply skeptical of government broadly, attributing this in part to "who the president's political base is."

He added: "This deep state narrative ... I think that's very damaging."

Turning to the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic, McMaster said there was a "failure" of departments and agencies to prepare for the health crisis.

"But that doesn't mean we should abandon the federal government's efforts to prepare for the next one. We have to just be more effective at it," he said.

McMaster then addressed accusations that the National Security Council had become a "deep state" nexus.

Read more in The Washington Examiner >>