Trump's pick of McMaster for national security adviser draws high praise ... Milo out at CPAC ... White House misleads on Trump's golf game

View this email in your browser February 20, 2017   |   by Daniella Diaz and Eric Bradner Trump taps McMaster as new national security adviser President Donald Trump announced this afternoon that Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster will serve as his next national security adviser, filling the void left last week by the sudden dismissal of Michael Flynn. "He is a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience," Trump said of McMaster. "I watched and read a lot over the last two days. He is highly respected by everybody in the military, and we're very honored to have him." Trump announced his decision seated alongside McMaster and retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who had been serving as the acting national security adviser since Flynn's exit, at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. But McMaster was not Trump's first choice. He initially offered the position last week to retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward, who turned it down amid concerns about how the White House was being run, sources told CNN last week. Credit where it's due: Foreign Policy's Thomas Ricks called the McMaster pick. One reason he cited: "His wife won't kill him if he takes the job, as Harward's wife might have." The pick drew bipartisan praise. Conservative commentator Bill Kristol had this to say about the appointment: And here's former Democratic Rep. Steve Israel: BUZZING From CNN's Dan Merica: The White House misled reporters on how much golf President Donald Trump actually played yesterday. He played 18 holes. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders repeatedly told reporters yesterday that Trump only played "a couple" of holes because he was so busy.  Flashback to 2016, Trump in Virginia: "I'm going to be working for you, I'm not going to have time to go play golf." BAR TALK CPAC rescinds Milo Yiannopoulos' invitation Milo Yiannopoulos, an editor at Breitbart News and a frequent supplier of racist and sexist rhetoric, will no longer speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a decision that appeared to catch him off guard, CNNMoney's Tom Kludt reports. It all happened after a pair of video clips surfaced Sunday in which Yiannopoulos appeared to be speaking sympathetically about sex with young boys and cracking a joke about his own sexual encounter with a Catholic priest as a child. "We continue to believe that CPAC is a constructive forum for controversies and disagreements among conservatives, however there is no disagreement among our attendees on the evils of sexual abuse of children," American Conservative Union president Matt Schlapp said in a statement. Then, Simon & Schuster canceled publication of Yiannopoulos's forthcoming book, "Dangerous." Should the ACU or Simon & Schuster get much credit? CNN's Dylan Byers' take: New Trump travel ban order nearing completion The Trump administration is planning to roll out as early as this week a revised executive order on immigration the President says will "protect our people" while at the same time pass muster with courts that halted an earlier version, CNN's Ariane de Vogue and Tal Kopan report. Sources said the new order will clarify a point that caused confusion the first time around: The executive order will not impact green card holders. STRAIGHT UP "Any staffer who contacted or potentially contacted a Russian agent or a Russian official has done so on their own accord."   -- Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to David Axelrod on "The Axe Files." LAST CALL 3 things you might have missed today Pence is disappointed in Flynn: Vice President Mike Pence said today he was "disappointed" that former national security adviser Michael Flynn misled him about his conversation with the Russian ambassador to Washington. More from CNN's Jeremy Diamond. Mattis says United States won't take Iraq's oil: Before departing for his first trip to Baghdad as US defense secretary, James Mattis told reporters, "We're not in Iraq to seize anybody's oil." More from CNN's Madison Park and Daniel Allman. Wyden wants answers on border cell phone searches: Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, a senior Democratic member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is set to send a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly calling reports that Americans were required to unlock their smartphones "deeply troubling," asking what legal authority allows for it. More from CNN's Tal Kopan. CLOSING TIME Read up on how President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" hat became an icon. ... Good news for the DCCC: Rep. Cheri Bustos, a Democrat who romped in a Trump-won district in 2016, won't run for Illinois governor, instead staying in her House seat. 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