President Donald Trump tore into former Defense Secretary James Mattis, claiming Tuesday during a Fox & Friends interview that the retired Marine general prevented him from assassinating Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2018.
“I would have rather taken him out,” Trump stated when asked about retaliating against al-Assad for the 2018 Syrian gas attacks. “I had him all set. Mattis didn’t want to do it. Mattis was a highly overrated general, and I let him go.”
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 23: U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis listens as U.S. President Donald Trump answers questions during a meeting with military leaders in the Cabinet Room on October 23, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The president further criticized Mattis for being fired by former President Barack Obama and claimed he was a “bad leader” who “wasn’t doing the job with ISIS” and “had no concept” of winning.
Pressed by the Fox & Friends team on whether he regretted the decision not to take out al-Assad, Trump answered he “could have lived either way with that,” before again blaming Mattis for the decision. (RELATED: Russia Looks To Expand Military Bases In Syria, Could Escalate Existing Tensions With US)
“I considered him certainly not a good person, but I had a shot to take him out if I wanted,” he continued. “Mattis was against it. Mattis was against most of that stuff.”
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The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward previously reported on the incident in his 2018 book, although the president had not publicly commented on it until Tuesday.