really heard these details before. it reads, quote, mattis matd his case for keeping troops in syria. president trump rejected his arguments. 30 minutes into the conversation, mattis told the president, you're going to have to get the next secretary of defense to lose to isis. i'm not going to do it. now, i should note jeffrey goldberg who wrote this piece said none of those details came from mattis himself, but still a pretty remarkable scene, no? >> well, yeah. it is. as you point out, john, it's not directly from jim mattis himself, but it is, i think, consistent. and i saw this when he was commander of central command, jim placed a very high premium on relations with our allies. he's not one who believes that the united states can go it alone. that's why i figured that with this america first approach, that jim's time as secretary of defense was limited. and i think the straw that broke the camel's back was leaving