Washington, Dec 24 United States President Donald Trump has now confirmed to replace Defence Secretary Jim Mattis with his deputy Patrick Shanahan. However, the move came two months earlier than had been expected, reports US media.
The move is said to be driven by Trump’s anger at Mattis’ resignation letter over the latter’s rebuke of President’s foreign policy, including his surprise decisions to withdraw all troops from Syria and plans to drawdown in Afghanistan, the New York Times reported.
To announce his resignation, Mattis distributed a candid resignation letter addressed to President Trump that laid bare the growing divide between them, and implicitly criticised Trump for failing to value America’s closest allies, who fought alongside the United States in both conflicts. Mattis said that Trump deserved to have a defence secretary more aligned with his views.
In his letter, Mattis had said he would step down at the end of February to allow for a successor to be confirmed and attend Congressional hearings and a key NATO meeting.
Trump, who tweeted on Thursday that Mattis was “retiring, with distinction, at the end of February,” made his displeasure clear on Saturday by tweeting that the retired Marine general had been “ingloriously fired” by former President Barack Obama and he had given Mattis a second chance.
A senior White House official also said that Trump was irked by the attention given to Mattis’ resignation letter.
“He just wants a smooth, quicker transition and felt that dragging it out for a couple of months is not good,” the official said, on condition of anonymity.
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