Trump, asked if he had any thoughts about his plans for the defense secretary position, began by re-litigating the circumstances of Mattis’s departure.

AD

AD

“So I wasn’t happy with Mattis,” Trump said, according to an interview transcript. “I told Mattis to give me a letter. He didn’t just give me that letter. I told him.”

Trump pointed out that he previously had called Mattis “sort of a Democrat” in an October interview with “60 Minutes.”

“I didn’t like the job he was doing,” Trump told the Times." I wasn’t happy with it. I wasn’t happy with the — I got him more money than the military has ever seen before. And I wasn’t happy with the job that he was doing at all. And I said it’s time."

In the moments after Mattis first resigned, Trump tweeted that the defense secretary would be “retiring, with distinction,” and added that “tremendous progress has been made” at the Pentagon during Mattis’s nearly two-year term as defense secretary.

AD

“General Mattis was a great help to me in getting allies and other countries to pay their share of military obligations,” Trump tweeted. “A new Secretary of Defense will be named shortly. I greatly thank Jim for his service!”

AD

Mattis’s resignation letter, released by the Pentagon minutes later, told a different story. Without thanking the president in the letter, Mattis said he appreciated the opportunity to “serve the nation and our men and women in uniform,” and highlighted the need to treat allies with respect.

“Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position,” Mattis wrote, saying he would end his tenure Feb. 28 to provide “sufficient time for a successor to be nominated and confirmed."

AD

Trump abruptly removed Mattis from office three days later, installing Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan as acting Pentagon chief. Trump had Secretary of State Mike Pompeo call Mattis to inform him of the change, administration officials told The Washington Post at the time.

AD

On. Jan. 2, Trump said that he “essentially fired” Mattis, overlooking the resignation letter in his comments. He pointedly noted that the Obama administration also had removed Mattis, a retired four-star Marine, from his position as chief of U.S. Central Command.

“What’s he done for me? How has he done in Afghanistan? Not too good. Not too good,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting, with Shanahan seated next to him. “I’m not happy with what he’s done in Afghanistan, and I shouldn’t be happy.”

AD

Mattis has declined several times to comment about his departure in recent weeks, choosing to let his letter speak for itself.

Trump said Thursday in his interview with the Times that “I have a lot of great people that want” the defense secretary job, though he has nominated no one for the position.

“I also have somebody there who’s really been very good,” Trump said. “Pat, Pat Shanahan. He’s acting.”

AD

Shanahan has maintained a low-key presence since taking over as acting Pentagon chief. In an off-camera meeting with reporters on Tuesday, he indicated he will continue to serve at the pleasure of the president.

“It’s really whatever the president or the country would like me to do,” Shanahan said. “That’s what I’m prepared to do.”

Shanahan indicated he will adhere to the vision the administration put in place with Mattis as defense secretary.