President Donald Trump announced Sunday that Secretary of Defense James Mattis will leave the administration well before the date offered in his resignation.
“I am pleased to announce that our very talented Deputy Secretary of Defense, Patrick Shanahan, will assume the title of Acting Secretary of Defense starting January 1, 2019,” the president wrote on Twitter. “Patrick has a long list of accomplishments while serving as Deputy, & previously Boeing.”
I am pleased to announce that our very talented Deputy Secretary of Defense, Patrick Shanahan, will assume the title of Acting Secretary of Defense starting January 1, 2019. Patrick has a long list of accomplishments while serving as Deputy, & previously Boeing. He will be great!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2018
Mattis had offered his resignation to the president last week offering to stay on until late February, but Trump appears ready to move on with someone else more in agreement with his more non-interventionalist ideas.
Just after the president announced that he was pushing Mattis out immediately, the president reaffirmed his commitment to bring U.S. troops home.
“I just had a long and productive call with President @RT_Erdogan of Turkey,” he tweeted. “We discussed ISIS, our mutual involvement in Syria, & the slow & highly coordinated pullout of U.S. troops from the area. After many years they are coming home..”
I just had a long and productive call with President @RT_Erdogan of Turkey. We discussed ISIS, our mutual involvement in Syria, & the slow & highly coordinated pullout of U.S. troops from the area. After many years they are coming home. We also discussed heavily expanded Trade.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2018
Mattis, in his resignation letter, said that he believed the president should have a Defense Secretary who was more aligned with his way of thinking.
“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.”
As Trump has named the Deputy Secretary of Defense to the acting Defense Secretary role, the transition is expected to be seamless.
