Trump forces James Mattis out two months early, names Patrick Shanahan acting defence secretary
- Former Boeing executive, who was Mattis’ deputy at the Pentagon, will begin role on January 1
- Mattis resigned in protest last week after Trump announced the withdrawal of US troops from Syria
President Donald Trump, who aides said has been frustrated by news coverage of Defence Secretary James Mattis’s scathing resignation letter, abruptly announced Sunday that he was removing Mattis two months before his planned departure and installing Patrick Shanahan as acting defence secretary.
Shanahan, a former Boeing executive who has been Mattis’ deputy at the Pentagon, will assume the top job on an acting capacity beginning January 1, Trump said.
Mattis resigned in protest last week after Trump announced the withdrawal of US troops from Syria over the strong objections of Mattis and others on the national security team. Brett McGurk, the top US envoy to the international coalition fighting the Islamic State militant group, also resigned in protest over Trump’s Syria decision.
In his Thursday resignation letter, Mattis delivered a sharp rebuke of Trump’s world view and cast the president’s foreign policy positions as a threat to the nation.
Mattis said in the letter that he would resign his post on February 28, to allow for a smooth transition to the next defence secretary. But Trump decided to hasten the process, announcing Sunday on Twitter that Shanahan would replace Mattis imminently.