Last week, Trump abruptly fired John Bolton, a vigorous proponent of using US military force abroad and one of the main hawks in the administration on Iran. Robert O’Brien has until now served as Trump’s envoy for situations involving US hostages abroad. He comes into the new job with backing from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and senior Republicans in Congress.
US President Donald Trump has chosen Robert O’Brien to replace John Bolton as his national security adviser.
Robert O’Brien learnt to speak the language while an exchange student in Bloemfontein during apartheid.
According to lobby group AfriForum’s deputy CEO, Ernst Roets, “O’Brien speaks fluent Afrikaans and AfriForum has interacted with him in the past”.
This is a reference to an interview with O’Brien AfriForum published in 2017, which the lobby group’s CEO, Kallie Kriel, also tweeted about on hearing of his new appointment.
According to the interview, O’Brien learnt to sp
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