Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis listens to a question during an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations, in New York, in September. Mattis on Wednesday issued an extraordinary rebuke of President Trump. Richard Drew/AP hide caption
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Richard Drew/AP
Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis listens to a question during an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations, in New York, in September. Mattis on Wednesday issued an extraordinary rebuke of President Trump.
Richard Drew/AP
Retired Marine Gen. Jim Mattis, who resigned as President Trump’s defense secretary nearly a year-and-a-half ago over policy differences, has issued an extraordinary critique of the White House’s handling of nationwide unrest, saying Trump has sought to divide Americans, and warning against “militarizing our response” to the protests.
“When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution,” Mattis said in a statement.
“Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside,” Mattis said, referring to a series of events on Monday in which peaceful protesters were cleared from around the White House to make way for an impromptu appearance by the president outside a historic church.
Mattis’ broadside came on the same day that current Defense Secretary Mark Esper said at a Pentagon briefing that he opposed invoking the Insurrection Act to quash protests, something the president had threatened to do in a televised speech on Monday.
Mattis, who resigned and was then fired by Trump in December 2018, has remained largely silent about the president’s job performance since leaving the defense post, telling NPR last year: “I don’t discuss sitting presidents.” He said he thought that Trump deserved “a period of quiet.”
However, days of nationwide protest over the death of George Floyd in police custody and the use of National Guard troops in Washington to disperse peaceful demonstrators, have led Mattis — “angry and appalled” — to break his silence.
He said the protesters were only demanding equal justice under the law.
“It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind,” he wrote.
“We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers,” Mattis wrote, referring to the vandalism and looting that have sometimes occurred along with the largely peaceful protests. “The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.”
Mattis accused the president of pursuing a divisive strategy. “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try.”
“Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership,” he said.
