Donald Trump actually said...

"The President is commander in chief, and no one else, and he has the right to have whoever he wants especially as his national security adviser."

"The question has been whether he would be put somewhere, deployed somewhere, in an effort to get a fourth star or whether he would go somewhere else."

"The President has begun getting frustrated with that. He's someone who is a free-wheeling, you know, president. He wants to do things his own way."

"The President chose H.R. after a very short meeting, General McMaster who I know is a very smart, intellectual, and savvy combat veteran."