The White House over the weekend pushed back against reports suggesting that U.S. President Donald Trump was planning to imminently replace National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.
According to a CNN report, Israeli-born co-CEO of Oracle, Safra Catz, is on the shortlist to replace McMaster. Catz was also part of Trump's transition team.
Also on the alleged shortlist are former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton and Stephen Biegun, vice president of international government affairs at Ford Motor Company and a former senior staff member to National Security Agency Condoleezza Rice under the George W. Bush administration.
National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton said Trump called the report "fake news" in a meeting with McMaster Thursday and informed McMaster "that he is doing a great job."
"We frequently face rumor and innuendo about senior administration officials," White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said. "There are no personnel announcements at this time."
Trump has repeatedly clashed with McMaster, a respected three-star general. The most recent incident was over McMaster's characterization of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Trump took to Twitter to push back on McMaster's remarks at the Munich Security Summit last month.
Catz, 56, was born in the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon, moved to the U.S. with her family when she was 6. She has served in several senior management positions at Oracle since 1999.
For the past 16 years, she has been featured on Fortune magazine's list of "10 Most Powerful Women in Business." Among other accomplishments, Catz led the largest strategic shift in Oracle's history, making the company a global powerhouse.
