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US defense chief Mattis says he is on Trump’s ‘team’
HANOI, Oct 16, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis insisted
on Tuesday that he is on Donald Trump’s team, after the US president said in
an interview that he could be leaving.
Mattis, seen as one of the steadiest but also more independent members of
Trump’s cabinet, has served as a low-profile counterweight to the president
in his often abrasive treatment of US allies.
“I’m on his team. We have never talked about me leaving,” he told
journalists on a flight to Ho Chi Minh City where he is due meet his
Vietnamese counterpart.
“We just continue doing our job,” he said, adding that he had not spoken
with Trump since the comments emerged.
The president described Mattis as “sort of a Democrat,” in an interview
with CBS’s “60 Minutes”.
“But General Mattis is a good guy. We get along very well. He may leave. I
mean, at some point, everybody leaves,” he added.
Asked by reporters about his political affiliation, Mattis demurred, but
insisted he had “never registered for any political party”.
“My portfolio is bipartisan by its very basis, and that is the protection
of the United States. That’s what President Trump has told me to do, and I
eagerly carry that out,” he said.
Rumours that Mattis’s days as defence chief are numbered have circulated
since a book by journalist Bob Woodward about the chaotic White House said
the general had questioned Trump’s judgement, likening his understanding of
international affairs to that of a 10- or 11-year-old child.
Mattis has been careful to avoid public conflict with Trump, but has
nonetheless performed in ways that contrast sharply with his boss,
emphatically defending the US commitment to its NATO allies and calling out
Russia.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1112HRS