Former Defense Secretary James Mattis on Tuesday stated that he will comment on President Donald Trump’s defense policy and strategy “when the time’s right.”
“There will come a time when I speak out on strategic issues, policy issues, that I do not have a question about, but I need to give some period of time to those that have to carry out the responsibilities to protect this country in a very, very difficult age,” Mattis said at a Council on Foreign Relations event in New York.
“When the time comes — I’ll know it when it’s right, I can’t tell you; I can’t tell myself, I’m not keeping a secret — when the time’s right to speak out about policy and strategy, I’ll speak out,” Mattis previously has written in implicit criticism of Trump over his decisions, particularly regarding U.S. allies.
In his resignation letter to the President, which was included in the book, Mattis stressed their differences on the importance of help from other nations.
According to The Hill, on Tuesday Mattis said that he would hold off on any criticisms as he doesn’t believe that if you leave an administration over a matter of policy, “that you then get out and start talking. … I don’t think it’s the right thing to do.”
“We’ve got a president and a secretary of State and a secretary of Defense trying to protect this great big experiment that you and I call America, and I’m not going to make their job more difficult by a former secretary of Defense speaking now, from what I would call the cheap seats, not responsible for anything,” he said.
Be the first to comment