Fire Mattis News Today

Well, on this, his first full day as president as trumps acting defense secretary, up with can only imagine what patrick shanahan must have thought sitting next to the commander in chief at todays cabinet meeting. the one where the president falsely suggested that what happened to the man that proceeded shanahan for the last two years, jim mattis. >> i wish him well, i hope he does well. but as you know, president obama fired him and essentially, so did i. >> essentially, he didnt. mattis resign...

>> he is a reality show person. i suspect he thinks -- he thinks he wants generals who look like generals. you want generals who know what theyre doing, who know when they send young americans into battle, possibly, unfortunately to their death, that they know what theyre doing. they know what the risks are. and those young people have everything in hand to stay alive through combat. >> barbara starr, thanks very much. >> sure. >> well, the presidents remarkable revision is history on mattis cam...

Death. >> reporter: now the president insisting, he has no specific timetable for pulling troops out. >> over a period of time. i never said im getting out tomorrow. >> reporter: but in a white house-produced video just last month, trump was adamant on an immediate troop withdrawal. >> theyre all coming back. and theyre coming back now. >> reporter: for his part, shanahan today remained focused on the white houses message about border security. >> the threat is real. the risks are real. we need ...

Top officials of his own government, who are concerned about isis resurging, and as barbara starr reports, this all lands on the desk of the new acting secretary of defense. >> the first cabinet -- >> reporter: on patrick shanahans first day as acting defense secretary, president trump focused more on the man he just replaced, now former secretary james mattis. >> but whats he done for me? how has he done in afghanistan? not too good. president obama fired him, and essentially so did i. >> repor...

Was in iraq, said hes a good buyer of military equipment, and he wants a good buyer because hes giving a lot to the military. can you make sense of that statement and whether thats -- i just dont know how to interpret that. >> well, its another impulsive act by the president of the united states to essentially fire mattis and then to tell him to get out of the pentagon in a week because he didnt like the positive press coverage coming from mattis resignation letter. i think in the short run, we ...

Out, after hearing praise for mattis and getting a better idea what his resignation letter actual said i wily said. your reaction to mattis resignation isnt even appropriate for tv, when manu raju called you on the hill. >> the problem becomes much worse. the transition that mattis knew was so necessary, isnt going to happen. and its just -- i dont know, this president seems to be beyond understanding, or maybe he is easy to understand. he wouldnt allow mattis to resign. instead he wanted to fir...

Clint, let me ask you what this says to you about the investigation and how afraid donald trump is of it. >> i think at this point hees run out of people to fire. you look at it, who can he fire at this point? if he fires kelly, well all turn and be like, hes the guy thats there to babysit you so you dont screw this up. he cant fire sessions. he cant fire mattis and a lot of other people are almost openly refuting him. the president doesnt really command a whole lot at this point. hes burned thr...