Jim Mattis Calls Woodward Book ‘Fiction’: ‘P
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Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday slammed Bob Woodward’s book about the Trump administration, which claimed he had said the president had the understanding of a “fifth or sixth grader.”
“The contemptuous words about the President attributed to me in Woodward’s book were never uttered by me or in my presence. While I generally enjoy reading fiction, this is a uniquely Washington brand of literature, and his anonymous sources do not lend credibility,” Mattis said in a statement.
Notably, the statement came while he was traveling to South Asia, to work on advancing the U.S.-India defense relationship. It came just hours after the Washington Post published an article on the book, which also claimed that Chief of Staff John Kelly had made derogatory remarks about the president.
Mattis continued:
While responsible policy making in the real world is inherently messy, it is also essential that we challenge every assumption to find the best option. I embrace such debate and the open competition of ideas. In just over a year, these robust discussions and deliberations have yielded significant results, including the near annihilation of the ISIS caliphate, unprecedented burden sharing by our NATO allies, the repatriation of U.S. service member remains from North Korea, and the improved readiness of our armed forces. Our defense policies have also enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress.
https://www.spartareport.com/2018/09/jim-matt...agination/