President Donald J. Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cnn-loses-it-again-trump-gets-2-scoops-ice-cream-joseph-curl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">couldn&#8217;t even get a second scoop of ice cream</a> without legacy media and anonymous sources going into hysterics, but now the Deep State is trying to convince the American people that Chinese spy balloons flew overhead during the Trump administration on several occasions — without the public so much as hearing a peep about the incident from government leaders.
As if that wasn&#8217;t insulting enough, the running defense of the Biden administration&#8217;s incompetence over the most recent Chinese spy balloon is that the international embarrassment is all Trump&#8217;s fault.
When Americans heard there was a gigantic inflatable surveillance device high above Montana, the most common reaction was, &#8220;Why hasn&#8217;t it been shot down yet?&#8221; Deep State officials told lapdog media that similar scenarios played out under Trump, and no action was taken, thus setting the precedent for President Joe Biden.
&#8220;It has happened a handful of other times over the past few years, to include before this administration,&#8221; an official <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/03/chinese-balloon-aerial-surveillance-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> The Washington Post on Friday.
In turn, numerous Trump officials <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/02/05/trump-denies-any-chinese-spy-balloons-under-his-watch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rushed</a> to defend the previous president.
Former Acting Director of the United States National Intelligence Ric Grenell, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, and more all came out and said it never happened. 
Even former National Security Advisor John Bolton — who by all accounts detests Trump — came out and said it never occurred.
So, it seemed as if it was just made up by somebody in the Biden administration. Then another official said that the spy balloons were discovered &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/an-explanation-for-why-trump-never-shot-down-chinese-spy-balloons-emerges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">after Trump left office.</a>&#8221;
How convenient.
Then something even more eyebrow-raising happened on Monday.
Representative Mike Waltz (R-FL) alleged that some former Trump officials believe that former Secretary of Defense James Mattis never informed the 45th president about the spy balloons due to his potential erratic behavior.
&#8220;My office has been briefed by the office of the Secretary of Defense of the current Pentagon that it happened over Florida, it happened over Texas, and that it’s happened before,&#8221; Waltz <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCQraV6M1Xs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Fox Business&#8217;s Stuart Varney. &#8220;We have more detailed questions but what is unclear, Stuart, at this point is, did the Pentagon under the Trump administration brief the Trump White House and give them the option to take action or did they decide not to brief them for whatever reason?&#8221;
Waltz added that he is going to get to the bottom of what happened.
&#8220;And there is some speculation, I talked to Trump administration officials over the weekend, that the Pentagon deliberately did it because they thought Trump would be too provocative and too aggressive,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCQraV6M1Xs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a>. &#8220;So that’s what we need to get to the bottom of and one person that I’m waiting to hear from that we haven’t heard from that list is former Secretary of Defense, General Mattis who was the secretary during this time period. What did he know and what did he decide to pass on and brief to the president.&#8221;
To recap, the alleged explanations regarding Chinese spy balloons under Trump are that, he knew and did nothing, the intel community failed to detect the balloons until after Trump left office, or that information was purposefully withheld from Trump — thereby potentially breaking chain-of-command.
Of those three, there is reason to suspect that the Deep State did not tell Trump.
We already know that the career officials in the U.S. government lied to Trump in the past in order to advance its policies and halt his America First agenda — such as when it hid the number of troops in Syria from the president.
&#8220;We were always playing shell games to not make clear to our leadership how many troops we had there,” former U.S. diplomat Jim Jeffrey and <a href="https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2020/11/outgoing-syria-envoy-admits-hiding-us-troop-numbers-praises-trumps-mideast-record/170012/">avowed</a> &#8220;Never Trumper&#8221; admitted in the waning days of the Trump administration.
So, the latest revelation about The Swamp not being forthright with Trump would not necessarily be surprising.
What should be never dulled is the apparent brazenness that the Deep State went to thwart the will of the American people who elected Trump during his time leading the executive branch. Now, even after he has left office, it seems they are trying to smear his presidency to excuse Biden&#8217;s ineptitude.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Donald Trump, Joe Biden

Blame Trump: The Deep State’s Latest Defense Of Biden’s Chinese Spy Balloon Ineptitude

Blame Trump: The Deep State’s Latest Defense Of Biden's Chinese Spy Balloon Ineptitude

Balloon

China

Communist China

Deep State

Donald Trump

Global Politics

James Mattis

National Intelligence

Politics

Spying

Retired Marine four-star General <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/former-defense-secretary-james-mattis-denounces-president-trump-we-can-unite-without-him/">James &#8216;Mad Dog&#8217; Mattis</a> tied the knot over the weekend — in a ceremony that was presided over by an Elvis Presley impersonator.
According to a Monday <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook-pm/2022/06/27/new-poll-voters-oppose-overturning-roe-back-court-reform-00042585">report</a> from Politico&#8217;s Playbook, <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/watch-general-mattis-jabs-trump-he-got-his-spurs-in-a-letter-i-got-mine-on-the-battlefield/">Mattis</a> — who most recently served as Secretary of Defense under former President Donald Trump — wed physicist Christina Lomasney on Saturday. The happy couple actually held two separate ceremonies to celebrate their nuptials — one before a priest on the banks of the Columbia River, and a second in Las Vegas with Elvis close at hand. The two reportedly met in a bar.
Robert Harward, retired United States Navy SEAL and a former Deputy Commander of the United States Central Command, served as Mattis&#8217; best man. Harward was also offered a position in the Trump administration — he was tapped to replace retired General Michael Flynn as national security advisor — but turned down the job.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
👀 Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis got married this weekend, per <a href="https://twitter.com/playbookdc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@playbookdc</a>: <a href="https://t.co/S1356KERdr">https://t.co/S1356KERdr</a> <a href="https://t.co/WH8FDHtwvb">pic.twitter.com/WH8FDHtwvb</a>
&mdash; Daniel Lippman (@dlippman) <a href="https://twitter.com/dlippman/status/1541746459703484418?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 28, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
People on Twitter had some fun with the idea of Mattis — whose Marine call sign was CHAOS — getting hitched by an Elvis impersonator.
&#8220;Shortly after this photo was taken, Mattis looked to his left, his eye began to twitch, and he proceeded to yell at Elvis. &#8216;Fingers extended and joined when making a knife hand, You!'&#8221; Army veteran Alex Plitsas joked.
https://twitter.com/alexplitsas/status/1541753691476213761
&#8220;Free sequel idea for Baz Luhrmann,&#8221; NBC reporter Daniel Arkin <a href="https://twitter.com/d_arkin/status/1541790057836716038">added</a>.
&#8220;Incredible photo. The Warrior Monk finally gets married,&#8221; MSNBC columnist Eric Michael Garcia <a href="https://twitter.com/EricMGarcia/status/1541788041328615427">tweeted</a>.
Stars and Stripes Pentagon reporter Caitlin Doornbos <a href="https://twitter.com/CaitlinDoornbos/status/1541769809926529025">added</a>, &#8220;Imagine meeting Mattis in a bar. Congrats to the happy couple.&#8221;
&#8220;No notes, this is perfect,&#8221; Task and Purpose Army reporter Haley Britzky <a href="https://twitter.com/halbritz/status/1541764078066188288">commented</a>.
US News reporter Paul Shinkman shared photos of both ceremonies, noting that Mattis appeared to be wearing the same outfit in both photos, while his new bride wore a different dress to the Vegas chapel — the Little Church of the West — than she did for the riverside ceremony last week. &#8220;CHAOS has one wedding uniform. Anything more is un-Spartan,&#8221; he said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
CHAOS has one wedding uniform. Anything more is un-Spartan. <a href="https://t.co/wrJ5DqjfRj">https://t.co/wrJ5DqjfRj</a> <a href="https://t.co/O5yt9E8thM">pic.twitter.com/O5yt9E8thM</a>
&mdash; Paul D. Shinkman (@PDShinkman) <a href="https://twitter.com/PDShinkman/status/1541763482810556417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 28, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Military streaming network @Veteran_TV <a href="https://twitter.com/Veteran_TV/status/1541758935698489347">summed it up</a> nicely: &#8220;The newlyweds met in a bar and had a wedding ceremony with a Vegas Elvis presiding. This man is a MARINE.&#8221;
&#8220;Warms our enlisted souls to see there was a Vegas element,&#8221; @ZeroBlog30 <a href="https://twitter.com/ZeroBlog30/status/1541756901804867586">agreed</a>.

Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Attends Criminal Trial

Former SecDef James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis Gets Hitched By Elvis Impersonator

Retired Marine General James Mattis Weds Physicist In Front Of Elvis Impersonator

Las Vegas

Marines

Marriage

Former Defense Secretary James Mattis, a frequent critic of President Trump, blasted his former boss after the riots at the Capitol on Wednesday and accused him of having &#8220;fomented&#8221; them.
&#8220;Today&#8217;s violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by Mr. Trump,&#8221; Mattis said. &#8220;His use of the Presidency to destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens has been enabled by pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice.&#8221;
&#8220;Our Constitution and our Republic will overcome this stain and We the People will come together again in our never-ending effort to form a more perfect Union, while Mr. Trump will deservedly be left a man without a country,&#8221; he added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
A blistering rebuke from President Trump&#39;s first Secretary of Defense: &quot;Our Constitution &amp; our Republic will overcome this stain &#8230;while Mr. Trump will deservedly be left a man without a country.&quot; &#8211; James Mattis <a href="https://t.co/ZXBVf3MQKh">pic.twitter.com/ZXBVf3MQKh</a>
&mdash; Anthony Mason (@AnthonyMasonCBS) <a href="https://twitter.com/AnthonyMasonCBS/status/1346989522526023680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Mattis, who served in the Trump administration for two years, took a notably different angle toward the violent riots that roiled the country over the summer.
“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,&#8221; Mattis said in June, according to a statement obtained by <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/james-mattis-denounces-trump-protests-militarization/612640/">The Atlantic</a>. &#8220;The words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand – one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values – our values as people and our values as a nation.&#8221;
“When I joined the military some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the constitutional rights of their fellow citizens – much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside,” he said.
Mattis continued, seemingly comparing Trump to Nazi Germany:
<blockquote>Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.
Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that ‘The Nazi slogan for destroying us … was &#8216;Divide and Conquer.&#8217; Our American answer is &#8216;In Union there is Strength.&#8217; We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.</blockquote>
“Probably the only thing Barack Obama &amp; I have in common is that we both had the honor of firing Jim Mattis, the world’s most overrated General,” Trump wrote in response to Mattis&#8217; June statement. “I asked for his letter of resignation, &amp; felt great about it. His nickname was ‘Chaos,’ which I didn’t like, &amp; changed to ‘Mad Dog.&#8217;”
“His primary strength was not military, but rather personal public relations,” Trump continued. “I gave him a new life, things to do, and battles to win, but he seldom ‘brought home the bacon.’ I didn’t like his ‘leadership’ style or much else about him, and many others agree. Glad he is gone!”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&#8230;His primary strength was not military, but rather personal public relations. I gave him a new life, things to do, and battles to win, but he seldom “brought home the bacon”. I didn’t like his “leadership” style or much else about him, and many others agree. Glad he is gone!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1268347259713880064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-defense-secretary-james-mattis-denounces-president-trump-we-can-unite-without-him" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Former Defense Secretary James Mattis Denounces President Trump: ‘We Can Unite Without Him’</a>

Trump Holds a Meeting with Members of his Cabinet

‘A Man Without A Country’: Mattis Blames Trump For Capitol Riots

President Donald Trump shared a letter on Thursday afternoon from famed attorney John M. Dowd attacking former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who made a vicious attack on the president this week.
Mattis&#8217; statement claimed that the numerous violent rioters represented only “small number of lawbreakers,” which does not square well with numerous videos that have emerged showing widespread looting, attacks on law enforcement, and the destruction of businesses in the nation&#8217;s inner cities. Mattis&#8217; statement also appeared to claim that Trump&#8217;s desire to restore law and order was somehow an attempt to divide the American people.
Trump shared the letter from Dowd to Mattis late on Thursday, which stated:
<blockquote>Jim:
I slept on your statement and woke up appalled and upset. You lost me. Never dreamed you would let a bunch of hack politicians use your good name and reputation earned with the blood and guts of young Marines. You did what you said you would — engage in this discourse. Marines keep their word.
The phony protesters near Lafayette park were not peaceful and are not real. They are terrorists using idle hate filled students to burn and destroy. They were abusing and disrespecting the police when the police were preparing the area for the 1900 curfew. Jim, this is the new nihilism. See Dan Henniger in WSJ today. Marines support the police in harm&#8217;s way.
Did you forget that President Bush used active duty Marines to quell the riots in LA? President Trump has countless cities and some snowflake governors and mayors wetting themselves in the use of force to protect innocent lives and property. The AG of Massachusetts thinks burning property is good protest. Three more policeman were stabbed and shot in NYC last night.
Think about it. Should he be upset about the obvious failure of leadership? Where are you, Jim?
Marines go to the fight.
No one divided this country more than Obama. He abandoned our black brothers and sisters. He gave guns to cartels. He apologized for our precious sacrifice and generosity overseas. You remember, he fired you.
President Trump has done more to help our minority brothers and sisters in three years than anyone in the last fifty. Ask the black pastors. Ask the leaders of the black colleges and universities. He got them funded. Ask them about the prison reform which ended the draconian sentences imposed on young black men by the laws enacted by Biden and his hacks. You need to bone up on your homework and stop listening to Uncle Leon.
I understand, you had to stick to the assigned narrative which did not include three years of corrupt investigations and evidence to destroy this President, his office, and his lawful free election. Nancy has no tolerance for dissent in the ranks – including those with stars.
You said nothing of the ugly, hate filled, disgraceful comments of Pelosi, Schumer, Perez, and other Democrat hacks defaming the President and his office. You said nothing of the unlawful sanctuary cities and the unlawful release of hoodlums. You said nothing of the resistance movement to paralyze our courts and our government operations. You said nothing of the obstruction and subversion of our immigration laws. You said nothing of MS-13 killers and the drug cartels who own huge sections of our major cities. Jim, do you think that hateful rhetoric and those corrupt actions were inspiring and unifying? Do you think the DI&#8217;s at Parris Island would find such behavior as unifying?
Maybe, your problem, is a lot deeper. Perhaps you ought to explain how and why you (and John Allen) as CG Central Command, did not engage and take out Iranian Major General Soleimani who roamed the Middle East and wreaked havoc and death of our American boys with his infamous IEDs?
Why did it take President Trump to have the instincts and balls to take him out (of course over the objection of the geniuses in the Pentagon)?
Looks like the Persian mullahs were a one horse sleigh and Trump nailed the horse&#8230;forever. It has been quiet ever since. Perhaps, your anger is borne of embarrassment for your own failure as the leader of Central Command. Did you applaud when the President recognized the central problem in the Middle East? Did you applaud the President when he wanted to save American lives by bringing them home in one piece?
John M Dowd</blockquote>
Trump directly responded to Mattis in a tweet shortly after Mattis&#8217; statement was published, writing: “Probably the only thing Barack Obama &amp; I have in common is that we both had the honor of firing Jim Mattis, the world’s most overrated General. I asked for his letter of resignation, &amp; felt great about it. His nickname was ‘Chaos,’ which I didn’t like, &amp; changed to ‘Mad Dog.&#8217;”
&#8220;His primary strength was not military, but rather personal public relations,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;I gave him a new life, things to do, and battles to win, but he seldom &#8216;brought home the bacon.’ I didn’t like his &#8216;leadership&#8217; style or much else about him, and many others agree. Glad he is gone!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&#8230;His primary strength was not military, but rather personal public relations. I gave him a new life, things to do, and battles to win, but he seldom “brought home the bacon”. I didn’t like his “leadership” style or much else about him, and many others agree. Glad he is gone!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1268347259713880064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Rajaratnam & Chiesi Appearance In Galleon Insider Trading Case

Trump Shares Letter From Lawyer John Dowd Unloading On James Mattis Over Mattis’ Attack On Trump

President Donald Trump slammed former Secretary of Defense James Mattis late on Wednesday after Mattis released a controversial statement about the president&#8217;s handling of the violent riots across the country.
&#8220;Probably the only thing Barack Obama &amp; I have in common is that we both had the honor of firing Jim Mattis, the world’s most overrated General,&#8221; Trump wrote. &#8220;I asked for his letter of resignation, &amp; felt great about it. His nickname was &#8216;Chaos,&#8217; which I didn’t like, &amp; changed to &#8216;Mad Dog.'&#8221;
&#8220;His primary strength was not military, but rather personal public relations,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;I gave him a new life, things to do, and battles to win, but he seldom &#8216;brought home the bacon.&#8217; I didn’t like his &#8216;leadership&#8217; style or much else about him, and many others agree. Glad he is gone!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&#8230;His primary strength was not military, but rather personal public relations. I gave him a new life, things to do, and battles to win, but he seldom “brought home the bacon”. I didn’t like his “leadership” style or much else about him, and many others agree. Glad he is gone!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1268347259713880064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Trump&#8217;s remarks come after Mattis said in a statement that he was &#8220;angry and appalled&#8221; by Trump&#8217;s handling of the violent riots.
&#8220;The words &#8216;Equal Justice Under Law&#8217; are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court,&#8221; Mattis said. &#8220;This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.&#8221;
Mattis&#8217; claim that the number of violent rioters represents only a &#8220;small number of lawbreakers&#8221; does not square well with numerous videos that have emerged in recent days from inner cities that show widespread looting, attacks on law enforcement, and the destruction of businesses.
Security expert David Reaboi slammed Mattis&#8217; claim that the protesters want &#8220;equal justice under the law,&#8221; saying that Mattis was &#8220;too stupid to realize &#8216;equal justice under the law&#8217; is literally the opposite of what the protesters demand.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Mattis—who was always just a conventional wisdom bot with an excellent press shop—is too stupid to realize “equal justice under the law” is literally the opposite of what the protesters demand. <a href="https://t.co/0loTAFv9nS">pic.twitter.com/0loTAFv9nS</a>
&mdash; David Reaboi, Late Republic Nonsense (@davereaboi) <a href="https://twitter.com/davereaboi/status/1268308188157358080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Mattis also attacked Trump for walking across the street and taking photos next to a church, and failed to note in his statement that the church had been, according to law enforcement, deliberately set on fire during a riot the night before.
“Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside,” Mattis said.
Mattis also appeared to compare Trump to Nazi Germany, something that the political Left routinely does, saying:
<blockquote>Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that “The Nazi slogan for destroying us…was ‘Divide and Conquer.’ Our American answer is ‘In Union there is Strength.’” We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.
Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.</blockquote>
Mattis&#8217; assertion that the violent riots are somehow a &#8220;consequence of three years&#8221; of the Trump administration ignores the fact that the riots started in a Democrat-controlled city and state where officials were slow to arrest the police officer who knelt on George Floyd&#8217;s neck and then took insufficient action to maintain law and order as widespread violence gripped the streets of Minneapolis.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Trump Blasts Mattis After Mattis Downplays Violent Rioters, And Seemingly Blames Trump For Unrest

George Floyd

Riots

Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who served in the Trump administration for almost two years, unequivocally denounced President Trump in a statement accusing him of failing to unite the country amidst the unrest over the past week. 
“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand – one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values – our values as people and our values as a nation,” Mattis said in a statement obtained by <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/james-mattis-denounces-trump-protests-militarization/612640/">The Atlantic.</a>
“When I joined the military some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the constitutional rights of their fellow citizens – much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside,” he said.
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/police-say-pepper-balls-were-deployed-on-monday-team-trump-demands-retraction-of-tear-gas-claims">The Daily Wire</a> previously reported, U.S. Park Police have rejected claims that tear gas was deployed at demonstrators, but acknowledged that they deployed smoke canisters and pepper balls after “violent protesters” purportedly became “combative.” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mcenany-trumps-church-walk-like-churchill-inspecting-the-bombing-damage">told reporters</a> on Wednesday that the visit was important for its symbolic significance.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has distanced himself from the church visit, claiming that he thought he would be looking at damage and talking to troops, according to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/esper-says-didnt-know-about-trump-church-photo-op-plans-2020-6">Business Insider</a>.
“We must reject any thinking of our cities as a ‘battlespace’ that our uniformed military is called upon to ‘dominate,’” said Mattis, seemingly a reference to a call between Trump and state governors in which Esper urged the states to put an end to civil unrest, reports ABC News.
The relevant audio segment of the call is excerpted below (excerpt via The Washington Post):
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Here’s the audio of the US secretary of defense referring to American streets as the “battle space” <a href="https://t.co/SmqynReHTC">pic.twitter.com/SmqynReHTC</a>
— John Hudson (@John_Hudson) <a href="https://twitter.com/John_Hudson/status/1267535860309909507?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/06/03/jim-mattis-blasts-trump-message-that-defends-protesters-says-president-tries-divide-us/">The Washington Post</a> reports that Esper has also distanced himself from the phrase &#8220;battlespace,&#8221; noting that he should have used a different term: “In retrospect, I would use different wording so as not to distract from the more important matters at hand or allow some to suggest that we are militarizing the issue.&#8221;
“At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors,&#8221; continued Mattis in his statement. &#8220;Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict—a false conflict—between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part. Keeping public order rests with civilian state and local leaders who best understand their communities and are answerable to them.”
&#8220;James Madison wrote in Federalist 14 that ‘America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat.’ We do not need to militarize our response to protests. We need to unite around a common purpose. And it starts by guaranteeing that all of us are equal before the law,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that “The Nazi slogan for destroying us…was ‘Divide and Conquer.’ Our American answer is ‘In Union there is Strength.’” We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics,&#8221; said Mattis.
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us,” said Mattis. “We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.”
“We can come through this trying time stronger, and with a renewed sense of purpose and respect for one another. The pandemic has shown us that it is not only our troops who are willing to offer the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of the community. Americans in hospitals, grocery stores, post offices, and elsewhere have put their lives on the line in order to serve their fellow citizens and their country. We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Park. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution. At the same time, we must remember Lincoln’s ‘better angels,’ and listen to them, as we work to unite,” said Mattis.
“Only by adopting a new path—which means, in truth, returning to the original path of our founding ideals—will we again be a country admired and respected at home and abroad,” he concluded.
The former secretary of defense resigned in late 2018 — after Trump made the decision to withdraw troops from Syria — and told the president that he had the “right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects,” according to a copy of the resignation letter obtained by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/us/politics/jim-mattis-defense-secretary-trump.html">The New York Times</a>.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Former U.S. Secretary Of Defense James Mattis Visits “The Story With Martha MacCallum”

Former Defense Secretary James Mattis Denounces President Trump: ‘We Can Unite Without Him’

Former Secretary of Defense Gen. James Mattis took a few a shots at President Donald Trump while giving a keynote address on Thursday night.
Speaking at the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, Mattis joked about Trump reportedly calling him “the world’s most overrated general,” and jabbed the president for receiving a draft deferment during the Vietnam War after being diagnosed with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/us/politics/donald-trump-draft-record.html">bone spurs</a> in his heels.
“I’m not just an overrated general, I am the greatest, the world’s most overrated,” Gen. Mattis, who resigned from his post in December, joked about Trump’s comments. 
“I’m honored to be considered that by Donald Trump because he also called Meryl Streep an overrated actress,” he continued, according to <a href="https://time.com/5704659/james-mattis-donald-trump-jokes/?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=editorial&amp;utm_term=politics_military&amp;linkId=75531899">TIME</a> magazine. “So I guess I’m the Meryl Streep of generals, and frankly, that sounds pretty good to me.”
According to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/former-defense-secretary-james-mattis-pokes-fun-at-trump-calling-him-overrated-im-the-meryl-streep-of-generals">Fox News</a>, Mattis came up during a contentious White House meeting regarding Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria:
<blockquote>A Democratic source familiar with the meeting told Fox News that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., started to read the president a quote from Mattis from last Sunday: &#8220;And, in this case, if we don&#8217;t keep the pressure on, then ISIS will resurge. It&#8217;s absolutely a given that they will come back,&#8221; Mattis had said.
That&#8217;s apparently when Trump cut Schumer off and called Mattis overrated.</blockquote>
&#8220;You know why?&#8221; Trump reportedly said at the meeting. &#8220;He wasn’t tough enough. I captured ISIS. Mattis said it would take two years. I captured them in one month.&#8221;
Mattis’ resignation letter “said that his policy views no longer aligned with Trump’s, in particular when it came to support for American allies overseas,” noted the <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/10/17/trump-blasts-mattis-as-the-worlds-most-overrated-general/">Military Times</a>. “Administration officials said Trump’s promises to quickly withdraw U.S. forces from the Middle East and Afghanistan also played a factor in Mattis’ decision to step down.”
Moreover, earlier in the week, Mattis appeared on “Meet the Press” and indicated that “he does not believe administration statements that ISIS is completely defeated,” the Military Times added. 
&#8220;We have got to keep the pressure on ISIS so they don&#8217;t recover,&#8221; the popular general said. “We may want a war over; we may even declare it over. You can pull your troops out &#8212; as President Obama learned the hard way out of Iraq &#8212; but the enemy gets the vote.”
Mattis went after Trump’s draft deferment during the reception, too. “I earned my spurs on the battlefield. Donald Trump earned his spurs in a letter from a doctor,&#8221; he told the audience.
Trump was diagnosed with bone spurs in his heels after he graduated from college in the spring of 1968, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/us/politics/donald-trump-draft-record.html">The New York Times</a>. “The diagnosis resulted in a coveted 1-Y medical deferment that fall, exempting him from military service as the United States was undertaking huge troop deployments to Southeast Asia, inducting about 300,000 men into the military that year,” the report said. “The deferment was one of five Mr. Trump received during Vietnam. The others were for education.”
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
“I guess I’m the Meryl Streep of generals.” Former Defense Secretary James Mattis takes shot at Trump after the president called him “overrated” <a href="https://t.co/PlwilAYHyA">https://t.co/PlwilAYHyA</a> <a href="https://t.co/vlI7B1vaK9">pic.twitter.com/vlI7B1vaK9</a>
&mdash; TIME (@TIME) <a href="https://twitter.com/TIME/status/1185190661949198336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-gen-mattis-says-isis-will-resurge-if-we-dont-keep-the-pressure-on">WATCH: Gen. Mattis Says ISIS ‘Will Resurge’ If ‘We Don’t Keep The Pressure On’</a>

President Trump And General Mattis

WATCH: General Mattis Jabs Trump: He Got His ‘Spurs In A Letter,’ I Got Mine ‘On The Battlefield’

On Sunday, ABC’s &#8220;This Week&#8221; played a Saturday-taped interview with former Secretary of Defense General James Mattis.
During the interview, host Chuck Todd asked Mattis about the ongoing situation with Turkey and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. Mattis asserted that &#8220;if we don’t keep the pressure on,&#8221; a reemergence of ISIS is &#8220;a given.&#8221;
<blockquote>MATTIS: Well, what we see is the continued reliance that we have on allies. The fight against ISIS was fought largely by the Syrian Democratic Forces. We have lost, during several years of fighting in Syria, for example, less than a dozen troops, each one a tragedy, but the Syrian Democratic Forces, primarily the Kurds, have lost well over 11,000 killed, over 23,000 wounded. So, you see how we are fighting this enemy, doing it in a way by, with, and through allies that spreads the load, so it&#8217;s not just the American people, the American taxpayer, the American troops carrying the full load.
TODD: Do you feel as if, are we still doing this fight now? Or have we just pulled back, and it&#8217;s now up to the Kurds on their own?
MATTIS: Well, it’s in a situation of disarray right now. Obviously, the Kurds are adapting to the Turkish attacks. And we&#8217;ll have to see if they&#8217;re able to maintain the fight against ISIS. It&#8217;s going to have an impact. The question is, how much?
TODD: How would you turn this around now, if you could?
MATTIS: That&#8217;s a very good question, Chuck. That&#8217;s a very good question. You turn issues like this around based on trust. And re-instilling trust is going to be very difficult for the Americans, at this point.
TODD: There&#8217;s a movie called &#8220;Charlie Wilson&#8217;s War,&#8221; that the theme of it has to do with the Americans walking away from the mujahideen in Afghanistan. And of course, we all know what happens 20 years later. How concerned should we be about abandoning an ally, like the Kurds, that, maybe 20 years down the road, this comes to bite us?
MATTIS: Right. I think Secretary of State [Mike] Pompeo, the intelligence services, the foreign countries that are working with us, have it about right, that ISIS is not defeated. We have got to keep the pressure on ISIS so they don&#8217;t recover. We may want a war over. We may even declare it over. You can pull your troops out, as President Obama learned the hard way, out of Iraq. But the “enemy gets a vote,” we say in the military, and in this case, if we don&#8217;t keep the pressure on, then ISIS will resurge. It&#8217;s absolutely a given that they will come back.</blockquote>
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The Islamic State (ISIS) rose to prominence on the international stage when in June of 2014, it attacked the cities of Mosul and Tikrit in Iraq, reports the <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/timeline-the-rise-spread-and-fall-the-islamic-state">Wilson Center</a>. Lead by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the radical Islamic organization was dedicated to creating a modern-day caliphate.
Over the next several years, ISIS gained and lost various swaths of territory, all the while releasing gruesome propaganda videos featuring militants brutally executing captives, from journalist James Foley to aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, and Jordanian military pilot Moaz al Kasasbeh, among many others.
ISIS is also responsible for numerous terror attacks throughout the world, including the massacre at Charlie Hebdo, the November 2015 attacks in Paris, the 2016 Brussels bombings, and many more.
Although the &#8220;defeat&#8221; of the Islamic State is an ongoing process considering the disparate nature of the organization, their standing has been significantly diminished and their physical territory almost entirely recaptured.

James Mattis.

WATCH: Gen. Mattis Says ISIS ‘Will Resurge’ If ‘We Don’t Keep The Pressure On’

Islamic State (ISIS)

Kurds

Turkey

Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Sunday that increasing political division in the United States and the growing national debt are the two largest internal threats to U.S. national security.
Mattis made the remarks while appearing on CBS News&#8217; &#8220;Face The Nation&#8221; with host Margaret Brennan, who said that Mattis wrote in his new book that &#8220;Pakistan is the most dangerous country in the world.&#8221;
&#8220;What is the biggest national security threat?&#8221; Brennan asked.
Mattis responded by breaking down his response into two categories: external and internal threats.
&#8220;One is external, and, clearly, those nations Russia and China that are trying to impose their authoritarian models and decisions over other countries whether it&#8217;d be in the South China Sea or in the Ukraine, in parts of Georgia that Russia has occupied,&#8221; Mattis responded. &#8220;They&#8217;ve mucked around in our elections. So, externally, I would look at those two and that&#8217;s why we rewrote the National Defense Strategy to acknowledge the reality of those nations. Not the nations we wanted to be dealing with, but Russia of Putin. &#8230; President Xi or excuse me – the China President Xi.&#8221;
&#8220;But, internally, my bigger concern is two-fold. It&#8217;s our growing debt that we&#8217;re going to transfer to the younger generation with [seemingly] no fiscal discipline and more than that, it&#8217;s the lack of friendliness,&#8221; Mattis continued. &#8220;It&#8217;s the increasing contempt I see between Americans who have different opinions. I mean, we&#8217;re going to have to sit down and remember if we want this country to survive we are going to have to work together, and that there&#8217;s no way around that. That&#8217;s the way a democracy is set up. So, I would break it into those two fundamental [different] threats right now.&#8221;
Mattis&#8217; comments come as nearly all of the 2020 Democrat presidential candidates have endorsed socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez&#8217;s (D-NY) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43912/economic-apocalypse-ocasio-cortezs-green-new-deal-ryan-saavedra">$93 trillion</a> &#8220;Green New Deal,&#8221; whose creator even <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/49417/aocs-chief-staff-admits-green-new-deal-about-ryan-saavedra">admitted</a> is not about the environment and is, instead, about implementing socialism.
WATCH:
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">What’s the United States’ biggest national security threat? It’s twofold, Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis tells <a href="https://twitter.com/margbrennan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@margbrennan</a>. WATCH: <a href="https://t.co/13lFOOsyqu">pic.twitter.com/13lFOOsyqu</a>
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1170717733249519616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Mattis Gives His Take On Top National Security Threats Facing U.S.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Green New Deal

Russia

In a new book, former Defense Secretary James Mattis takes the Obama administration to task for its weak response to the growing threat of the Iranian regime. One bombshell included in the book is the Obama administration’s tepid response to what Mattis referred to as an “act of war” by Iran – the planned bombing of a café in Washington, D.C.
The Washington Examiner <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/act-of-war-mattis-says-obamas-inept-response-to-cafe-milano-bomb-plot-emboldened-iran">reported</a> on Mattis’ book, where he describes how during his time as the leader of U.S. Central Command (where he served between 2010 and 2013) he repeatedly warned the Obama administration about Iran and Sunni Islamist terrorists, though he felt Iran posed the “more deadly of the two threats.”
Mattis claims in his book, Call Sign Chaos: Learning To Lead, that Obama fired him because of these warnings, and that the administration didn’t even tell him about the Iranian plot to bomb the café. Mattis was informed of the plot by a duty officer in Tampa, Florida, who told him then-Attorney General Eric Holder and then-FBI Director Robert Mueller (yes, that Robert Mueller) held a press conference announcing the arrest of two Iranians who had planned the attack on Café Milano. The Examiner describes the café as “a high-end restaurant in Washington that was a favorite of the rich and famous, including Saudi Arabia’s ambassador, Adel al-Jubeir.”
“Attorney General Eric Holder said the bombing plot was ‘directed and approved by elements of the Iranian government and, specifically, senior members of the Qods Force.’ The Qods were the Special Operations Force of the Revolutionary Guards, reporting to the top of the Iranian government,” Mattis writes in his book.
Mattis goes on to explain that he “saw the intelligence: we had recorded Tehran’s approval of the operation.”
Mattis continues, saying that if the bomb had gone off, it would have been “the worst attack on us since 9/11.”
“Had the bomb gone off, those in the restaurant and on the street would have been ripped apart, blood rushing down sewer drains. It would have been the worst attack on us since 9/11. I sensed that only Iran’s impression of America’s impotence could have led them to risk such an act within a couple of miles of the White House,” Mattis writes. “Absent one fundamental mistake — the terrorists had engaged an undercover DEA agent in an attempt to smuggle the bomb — the Iranians would have pulled off this devastating attack. Had that bomb exploded, it would have changed history.”
Mattis writes that he wanted to “respond forcefully,” but President Barack Obama refused to inform the public about just how dangerous the plot truly was.
“We treated an act of war as a law enforcement violation, jailing the low-level courier,” Mattis writes.
Mattis, by contrast, writes that he “wanted calculated actions, to restrain the regime so it couldn’t thrust us into a war.”
“In my view, we had to hold Iran to account and strike back when attacked. But there was a reason for the administration’s restraint,” Mattis writes. “The administration was secretly negotiating with Iran, although I was not privy to the details at the time.”
Those “secret” negotiations would eventually become the Iran Deal, which President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018.
“In my military judgment, America had undertaken a poorly calculated, long-shot gamble. At the same time, the administration was lecturing our Arab friends that they had to accommodate Iran as if it were a moderate neighbor in the region and not an enemy committed to their destruction,” Mattis writes. “As long as its leaders consider Iran less a nation-state than a revolutionary cause, Iran will remain a terrorist threat potentially more dangerous than Al Qaeda or ISIS.”
Mattis still believes Iran is the biggest threat in the Middle East, and that the Obama administration’s refusal to retaliate has led to the “emboldened” nation that continues to escalate attacks, including shooting down U.S. drones.

BOMBSHELL: Mattis Says Obama Refused To Respond To Iran’s ‘Act Of War’ Because Of Nuclear Deal

Barack Obama

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had a secret meeting with a top Amazon cloud sales executive in 2017 before the Pentagon announced a $10 billion cloud computing contract that critics say was designed to be fulfilled only by Amazon, Fox News&#8217; Tucker Carlson reported on Friday.
Earlier this month, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/06/03/amazon-defense-department-jedi-contract/">The Intercept</a> reported:
<blockquote>
Amazon Web Services and Microsoft are now the two finalists to win the highly contested $10 billion contract for what is known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI. The deal, one of the largest federal contracts in U.S. history, would pay one company to provide cloud computing services in support of Defense Department operations around the world.
</blockquote>
The Intercept further noted that there are allegations that former DOD official Deap Ubhi, who left to work for Amazon in 2017, &#8220;worked on the preliminary research for the JEDI program in the late summer and fall of 2017&#8221; and was &#8220;also engaged in a secret job negotiation with Amazon for months, complete with salary discussions, offers of signing bonuses, and lucrative stock options.&#8221;
During his program on Friday, Carlson reported:
<blockquote>
Well, the Department of Defense exists to protect America from foreign threats and does a great job with that, thank God, but it&#8217;s also a massive consumer of tax dollars, the biggest really. And for that reason, concerns about corruption are always there. There&#8217;s reason to believe that over the past couple of years some at the Pentagon have worked to enrich Amazon, already the world&#8217;s richest company. In 2017, the Pentagon announced a $10 billion cloud computing contract. According to critics, the contract wasn&#8217;t actually competitive, it was designed from the very start to be fulfilled by Amazon and only by Amazon.
Several of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis&#8217; aides had prior professional ties to Amazon. A key official working on the Pentagon&#8217;s cloud computing program was carrying out secret job negotiations with Amazon even as he worked on the Pentagon&#8217;s program. And we can report exclusively tonight on this program that in March 2017, before the cloud computing contract was announced, Secretary Mattis had a secret dinner in London with Amazon&#8217;s top cloud sales executive, Teresa Carlson [emphasis added].
</blockquote>
A source told The Daily Wire that Carlson referred to Mattis&#8217; dinner with the Amazon official as &#8220;secret&#8221; because Teresa Carlson&#8217;s name was redacted from itinerary records, which were later unredacted.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
Carlson referred to the meeting as &#8220;secret&#8221; because the name of the Amazon employee he allegedly had dinner with was redacted from the itinerary.
Here is the redacted and unredacted itinerary <a href="https://t.co/ZYFrOlaIE0">pic.twitter.com/ZYFrOlaIE0</a>
&#8212; Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1140279777825132545?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Carlson then cut to a segment with Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) where he asked Meadows about the secret meeting that Mattis had with the Amazon official.
&#8220;So a detail that bothered me and correct me if I&#8217;m getting this wrong, Secretary Mattis met with this Amazon official but then the Pentagon tried to keep that meeting secret as if it were some national security secret, which of course it&#8217;s not,&#8221; Carlson said. &#8220;Why wouldn&#8217;t they be open about that?&#8221;
&#8220;Well, when you look at a procurement process, they should be open and transparent and competitive and when you look at it keeping you know somebody as high as General Mattis meeting with a potential bidder of a contract of $10 billion and even beyond that there are some suggestions the Department of Defense inspector general is looking at this in terms of possible conflict of interest,&#8221; Meadows responded. &#8220;So whether it be with General Mattis or with other individuals, what we want to make sure of is that the American people get the best value for their dollar and you can&#8217;t do that if you&#8217;re designing a contract to go just to one bidder.&#8221;
WATCH:
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Defense Secretary Mattis Had Secret Dinner With Amazon Official Before $10 Billion Contract Announced, Tucker Carlson Reports

Amazon

Tucker Carlson

Defense Secretary James Mattis, who resigned from his post on Thursday after President Trump announced he was withdrawing American troops from Syria, taped a Christmas message to American troops the day before he resigned.
Mattis, who is much beloved by the troops, stated:
<blockquote>
Since Washington crossed the Delaware, at Christmas of 1776, American troops have missed holidays at home to defend our experiment in democracy. To all you lads and lasses holding the line in 2018, on land, at sea, or in the air, thanks for keeping the faith. Merry Christmas and may God hold you safe.
</blockquote>
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According to <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/12/24/mattis-signs-order-to-withdraw-us-troops-from-syria/?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=Socialflow+MIL&amp;utm_source=twitter.com">Military Times</a>, on Sunday, Mattis signed the order to withdraw an estimated 2,200 U.S. forces from Syria, as the Pentagon acknowledged.
On Monday, President Trump targeted Mattis on Twitter, writing, &#8220;We are substantially subsidizing the Militaries of many VERY rich countries all over the world, while at the same time these countries take total advantage of the U.S., and our TAXPAYERS, on Trade. General Mattis did not see this as a problem. I DO, and it is being fixed!&#8221;
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&#8230;.We are substantially subsidizing the Militaries of many VERY rich countries all over the world, while at the same time these countries take total advantage of the U.S., and our TAXPAYERS, on Trade. General Mattis did not see this as a problem. I DO, and it is being fixed!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1077217178322194432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Meanwhile, there was a bipartisan call for Trump to replace Mattis with Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson; leftist Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) echoed Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) with his endorsement. Ernst tweeted, &#8220;I&#8217;ve seen firsthand Air Force Sec Heather Wilson&#8217;s leadership for our men and women in uniform &#8211; she would make a great Secretary of Defense and make our country proud.&#8221; Lieu echoed, &#8220;I agree with @<a href="https://twitter.com/SenJoniErnst">SenJoniErnst</a> that Heather Wilson would be a great Secretary of Defense. Wilson embodies the core values of integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do.&#8221;
The Marines issued a statement about Mattis resigning, saying, &#8220;like Marines everywhere, we are thankful for General Mattis&#8217; more than forty years of service to the nation and the Marine Corps. While we are sorry to see his tenure as SECDEF end, whether on 1 Jan or 28 Feb, we are confident that his legacy as a leader and warfighter will continue to impact our military for years to come.&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Statement from the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarineCorps?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarineCorps</a> Association about <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mattis?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Mattis</a> departure: <a href="https://t.co/5wy9JTi3En">pic.twitter.com/5wy9JTi3En</a>
&#8212; Elizabeth Campbell (@ECampbell360) <a href="https://twitter.com/ECampbell360/status/1077283912139894786?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Mattis spent 44 years in the Marines; he ultimately became a four-star general; he retired as the top leader of U.S. Central Command in 2013.
A typical Mattis story, as reported by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/general-mattis-stories-2016-12#nate-fick-a-former-marine-captain-who-first-served-as-a-2nd-lieutenant-under-mattis-while-he-was-in-charge-of-task-force-58-in-afghanistan-recalled-to-business-insider-the-moment-he-realized-this-guy-was-an-incredible-leader-6">Business Insider</a>: Nate Fick, a former Marine captain who first served as a 2nd lieutenant under Mattis while he was in charge of Task Force 58 in Afghanistan, recalled a night in December 2001 at the Marines&#8217; patrol base in Kandahar.
Fick had told his platoon that two men should stay awake all night on perimeter security while the rest of the group slept. He said, &#8220;I was out walking the lines one night at 2, maybe 3 a.m. As I got closer, I saw a third head.&#8221; Fick said he was angry that an extra Marine had stayed up or had deserted another post they were supposed to guard, but suddenly realized, &#8220;It was General Mattis. He had stopped to talk to the sergeant and the lance corporal.&#8221; Fick concluded, &#8220;Nobody would&#8217;ve criticized Mattis if he had a lieutenant like me heating up his MREs and if he stayed inside to sleep on a cot.&#8221;

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