Rep. Lynn Westmoreland in Georgia and Rep. Darrell Issa in California. 2016 US presidential campaign During the 2016 presidential election cycle, Gordon initially supported former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. In 2015, Gordon became Huckabee's Chief Foreign Policy Advisor. He appeared on behalf of Huckabee at various events, to include speaking at a White House rally against the Iran Deal in July 2015, alongside Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). In February 2016, Gordon endorsed Donald Trump for president. In March 2016, he joined the Trump campaign as the Director of National Security, managing the National Security Advisory Committee under its chairman, Senator Jeff Sessions. RNC platform role In July 2016, just prior to the Republicans' 2016 Convention in Cleveland, Gordon successfully advocated with elected delegates to soften a proposed amendment to the Republican National Committee's policy platform that called for providing "lethal defensive weapons" to the government of Ukraine. At the time, many Republican foreign policy leaders favored stronger support of Ukraine than the Obama administration had offered. In January 2017, Business Insider reported that he had "never left" his "assigned side table, nor spoke publicly at the meeting of delegates during the platform meeting," but in March 2017 he acknowledged to CNN that, in CNN's words, "Gordon had advocated for language in the GOP platform that the Ukrainians not be armed in their battle against pro-Russian separatists." Gordon has said of his advice to soften the proposed amendment on Ukraine that "this was the language Donald Trump himself wanted," though he has denied that Trump was aware at the time of the "details." After the election, media outlets reported that Gordon had encountered Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak on July 20, 2016 a week after the platform amendment debate, while serving as a guest speaker to over 50 ambassadors to the United States as part of the U.S. State Department's Global Partners in Diplomacy Program (GPD). Previously, Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks had denied any contacts with Russian diplomats. In August 2018, The Washington Post reported that Gordon had socialized with Maria Butina, a Russian graduate student at American University, in the weeks before the 2016 presidential election. See also Links between Trump associates and Russian officials Mueller Report Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections References External links American columnists American political consultants Herman Cain Living people Military personnel from New Jersey Military personnel from New York