12-23-2018, 03:26 PM
Unsurprisingly, President Trump, who aides said has been seething about news coverage of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’s resignation letter, abruptly announced Sunday that he was removing Mattis two months before his planned departure.
Trump is installing Patrick Shanahan as acting defense secretary.
![[Image: 220px-Patrick_M._Shanahan_official_portrait.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Patrick_M._Shanahan_official_portrait.jpg/220px-Patrick_M._Shanahan_official_portrait.jpg)
Shanahan, a former Boeing executive who has been Mattis’s deputy at the Pentagon, will assume the top job on an acting capacity beginning Jan. 1, Trump said.
The president made the decision hastily in reaction to negative news coverage, according to senior administration officials, one of whom said Trump was eager to retaliate against Mattis and show up the widely respected former general.
Unlike Mattis, Shanahan has not served in the military and has little foreign policy or government experience.
Trump plans to conduct a wide-ranging search for a permanent replacement and is interested in candidates from outside the administration, one official said.
Ref: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/...45de9a0894
Trump is installing Patrick Shanahan as acting defense secretary.
Shanahan, a former Boeing executive who has been Mattis’s deputy at the Pentagon, will assume the top job on an acting capacity beginning Jan. 1, Trump said.
The president made the decision hastily in reaction to negative news coverage, according to senior administration officials, one of whom said Trump was eager to retaliate against Mattis and show up the widely respected former general.
Unlike Mattis, Shanahan has not served in the military and has little foreign policy or government experience.
Trump plans to conduct a wide-ranging search for a permanent replacement and is interested in candidates from outside the administration, one official said.
Ref: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/...45de9a0894