WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said in an interview airing Sundaythat Defense Secretary Jim Mattis “could be” leaving, referring to him as”sort of a Democrat.
Mattis, seen as one of the steadiest but also more independent members ofTrump’s cabinet, has served as a low-profile counterweight to the presidentin his often abrasive treatment of US allies.
In an interview to be aired Sunday on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Trump was askedwhether he wanted Mattis to leave.
“It could be that he is. I think he’s sort of a Democrat, if you want toknow the truth,” Trump said, according to an excerpt released by CBS. “ButGeneral Mattis is a good guy. We get along very well. He may leave. I mean,at some point, everybody leaves.”
Trump said he had lunch with Mattis two days earlier and Mattis, a retiredMarine four-star general, had not told him that he was leaving.
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The exchange on Mattis came after Trump alluded to upcoming changes in hiscabinet, which last week saw the surprise resignation of Nikki Haley, theUS ambassador to the United Nations.
“I’m changing things around. And I’m entitled to. I have people now onstandby that will be phenomenal. They’ll come into the administration,they’ll be phenomenal,” Trump said.
“I think we have a great cabinet. There’re some people that I’m not happywith. I have some people that I’m not thrilled with. And I have otherpeople that I’m beyond thrilled with,” he said. – APP/AFP
