Donald Trump mistakenly called up official he fired - and it was as awkward as you'd expect

Donald Trump mistakenly called his former national security advisor, H.R. McMaster, whom he fired during his first term in 2018, and the reported exchange is as awkward as you're imagining.

The call happened on March 3, and CBS News reported that it began with Trump saying "Henry,” which was intended for South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, two sources told the publication.

The “H.R.” in McMaster’s name is short for Herbert Raymond, and given their soured relationship, McMaster was "surprised to hear from Trump at all," the report said, which then detailed how the short conversation went.

"Mr. President, this is H.R. McMaster," McMaster answered on the phone.

"Why the f*** would I talk" to H.R. McMaster? an angry Trump asked.

U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster (R) walk on the South Lawn prior to a Marine One departure from the White House June 16, 2017 in Washington, DCPhoto by Alex Wong/Getty Images

The commander-in-chief then launched into a "scathing critique" of his former aide, two sources said, about the "brief" phone call.

Just the day before this call, Trump described McMaster as a "A WEAK AND TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE LOSER!" in a Truth Social post.

Trump's insults came after McMaster's appearance on 60 Minutes, where the retired Army lieutenant general criticised the president's tense meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

He commented on how Russian President Vladimir Putin “couldn’t be happier" since "all of the pressure [is] on Zelenskyy" and not on him.

White House communications director Steven Cheung similarly slammed McMaster in a statement to CBS News on Wednesday (April 9).

“H.R. McMaster has completely beclowned himself and his third-rate book, which is now sold in the bargain bin of the fiction section of a discount bookstore, is filled with lies in a futile attempt to rehabilitate his tattered reputation,” Cheung said.

McMaster wrote a memoir about his time in Trump's White House titled At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House, released in 2024, in which he claimed Putin “played to Trump’s ego and insecurities with flattery”.

Elsewhere, Donald Trump slammed for having 'no plan' after insisting he wouldn't pause tariffs just days ago, and Trump being investigated for 'insider trading' over stocks advice post.

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