It was after the Jan. 6 incident that former President Trump’s deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger resigned, making him one of the most prominent Trump administration officials to do so. In an interview with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Jan. 6, Pottinger said he resigned after Trump tweeted about Vice President Pence on the day of the attack.
When it came to protecting our country and our Constitution, Pence lacked the “courage to do what should have been done,” Trump tweeted, according to the president. When I saw that tweet, I knew I had to leave that day,” Pottinger said in a recorded interview that was shown during the committee’s sixth session on June 28. Previously, Mr. Pottinger worked as a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal while serving as a Marine.
Robert O’Brien appointed Mr. Pottinger as his deputy when he became national security adviser in 2019. Mr. Pottinger had previously served as the National Security Council’s director for East Asian affairs before that. He penned a piece for the newspaper in 2005 Journal that “being in China…shows you what a nondemocratic regime can do to its population” as a reason for his choice to abandon journalism and join the marines. He went on to say, “I’m not an uncritical, rah-rah patriot.”
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“Moving to a different country has made me more aware of the problems in my own country. The necessity to reinvent ourselves is evident, but we should also be permitted to do so on our own terms, and not due to the dictates of others.” Prior to the Jan. 6 committee, Pottinger had testified before it in June. In an interview with CBS, he said Trump’s tweet saying Mike Pence should have been more courageous prompted him to resign.
Yes, I was aware of that.” Pottinger indicated in a taped message to the committee that he had decided to resign at the time. “Once I read the tweet, that’s when I realized I was leaving that day.” To put it another way, Pottinger, according to The Hill, is now a key White House Asia adviser. With his help, President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un were able to meet. In 2019, he was named deputy national security advisor.
Pottinger’s father, John Stanley Pottinger, served as assistant attorney general under past presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, making him the third generation of his family to service in the White House. Pottinger’s Hoover Institute profile reveals that he worked as a correspondent in China for Reuters and the Wall Street Journal before joining the White House. In 2005, Pottinger enlisted in the Marine Corps, according to the Hill. Between 2007 and 2010, he served three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Today, he is honored to be a guest fellow at the Hoover Institution. Asia, international security, media and relations, and U.S.-China policy are listed as his areas of expertise on his LinkedIn page. When asked about the timing of Trump’s discovery that the Capitol was under attack, Pottinger and other witnesses reportedly told Yahoo News that Trump delayed too long before telling the assailants, “Stop.” Thursday’s hearing is likely to be the final public hearing of the summer. However, the investigation continues.
