Trump says Jim Mattis will stay, following report on White House consideration of replacements – By Diana Stancy Correll (washingtonexaminer.com) / Sept 5 2018
President Trump said that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will “stay” at his post after being asked about a new report that said White House officials are considering potential candidates who could replace him as head of the Defense Department.
“Yeah. He’ll stay… we’re very happy with him, we’re having a lot of victories, we’re having victories that people don’t even know about, and he’s highly respected all over the world,” Trump told reporters Wednesday when asked about the report.
According to the Washington Post, derogatory remarks made by Mattis about Trump that appear in veteran journalist Bob Woodward’s upcoming book, “Fear: Trump in the White House,” have intensified speculation about when Mattis could leave his post and who would replace him, although discussions have been ongoing for weeks.
“The speculation about who replaces Mattis is now more real than ever,” a senior White House official told the outlet. “The president has always respected him. But now he has every reason to wonder what Mattis is saying behind his back. The relationship has nowhere to go but down, fast.”
In Woodward’s book, set to be released on Sept. 11, Mattis said Trump behaved and had the understanding of “a fifth- or sixth-grader” after Trump questioned why the U.S. had such a large military presence on the Korean Peninsula. The book said Mattis was one of several senior advisers concerned by Trump’s actions on multiple occasions.
Mattis has denied making the “contemptuous” comments and made reference to the book as “fiction.”
Although multiple White House and administration officials have predicted Mattis would step down over the course of the next few months, nothing is final. Both the White House and the Pentagon were mum on Mattis’s future when asked for comment by the Post’s Josh Rogin.
In an informal shortlist officials have reportedly put together, the front-runner is retired four-star Army Gen. Jack Keane.
“He has strong relationships across the administration and the president likes his TV profile,” the senior White House official said. “He comes across as strong and competent — like a more partisan Mattis.”
“Trump needs somebody he respects and he respects Gen. Keane,” a senior GOP congressional aide said. “I think he has the right skill set and attributes to be effective with this administration. And he’ll work well with the rest of the Cabinet.”
Keane refused to comment to the Post.
Other potential candidates include former Treasury Department official David McCormick and Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., although Graham has stated on multiple occasions he is not interested in serving in the Cabinet.
