NEW YORK – US President Donald Trump is contemplating replacing DefenceSecretary Jim Mattis with a more vocal supporter after the 2018 midtermelections in November, The New York Times reported Saturday, citing morethan a dozen White House officials.
According to the newspaper, the relationship between President Trump andSecretary Mattis, once strong, has waned over time.The relationship between the two has become even more strained lately withthe release of investigative journalist Bob Woodward’s book earlier thisweek, where he quotes Mattis as saying Trump has the mental intellect of a“fifth or sixth grader.”
Although Mattis denied the quotation and called the book a work of“fiction,” the defence secretary has often been lauded as the adult in theroom by administration critics, the Times noted.
It said Mattis and Trump have butted heads over a multitude of policyissues, including banning transgender people from serving in the military,engaging in military exercises with South Korea, the U.S. stance toward theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization, and if withdrawing the U.S. from theIran nuclear deal was a good decision.The sources told the Times say that Mattis is becoming frustrated with thetime spent pushing back against Trump and his policies regarding defenceand national security.
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“Secretary Mattis is probably one of the most qualified individuals to holdthat job,” Democratic Senator Jack Reed, the ranking member of the SenateArmed Services Committee, told the Times.
Reed said a Mattis departure from the Pentagon “would, first of all, createa disruption in an area where there has been competence and continuity.” -APP/AFP
