Trump to interview more candidates to fill national security adviser role as White House promises autonomy

US President Donald Trump could do another batch of interviews on Monday, (20 February) with current or new candidates to fill the post of his national security adviser.

White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders told reporters that he interviewed four candidates on Sunday at his Mar-a-Lago resort, including acting national security adviser Keith Kellogg, ex-Us ambassador to the UN John Bolton, Lieutenant General H R McMaster and Lieutenant General Robert Caslen.

"We may have some additional meetings and names tomorrow, and may also meet with a couple of those people again," Sanders said.

The national security adviser will have full control over staffing and other important decisions, the White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said on Sunday.

Michael Flynn, a retired US Army general resigned from his role of national security adviser on 13 February after revelations that he discussed US sanctions imposed by the Obama administration with the Russian ambassador just a few weeks before Trump inauguration and also misled Vice President Mike Pence regarding the conversations.

Vice Admiral Robert Harward turned down the role reportedly due to financial and family reasons. David Petraeus, a former CIA chief and a retired general, is also said to be out of consideration for the job.

Reuters reported sources as saying both of them wanted more control over staffing decisions and Trump was not willing to give them full autonomy.

In an interview to Chris Wallace on Fox News, Priebus denied the reports that the two wanted more control and said the adviser "can do whatever he or she wants to do with the staffing." He added that the topic about autonomy never came up in the meeting with Harward and they "hadn't really gone down the road" with Petraeus.