Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis accused former President Donald Trump of 'fomenting' the MAGA mob who ransacked the Capito...
Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis accused former President Donald Trump of 'fomenting' the MAGA mob who ransacked the Capitol three weeks ago, making him the top former cabinet official to level the charge.
Matt, who Trump once celebrated and more recently dismissed after the two men parted on bad terms, called out Trump and cited the danger of 'internal threats,' at a time the Homeland Security Department has warned of the 'heightened' threat from domestic violent extremists.
Mattis cited internal threats 'with every bit as much gravity as the external problems, and perhaps more so.'
Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the Jan. 6 riot was 'fomented by a sitting president'
'There are also internal threats right now,” he said, pointing to “the lack of unity on the consensual underpinnings of our democracy, and what we saw on Jan. 6, fomented by a sitting president.”
His comments, in an online event reported by Yahoo news, come even as elected Republican leaders move back into Trump's fold. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy Kevin McCarthy flew to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voted with 44 other Republicans on a motion calling the post-presidency impeachment trial of Trump unconstitutional.
Mattis and Trump had already been drifting apart, and Mattis penned an article in November calling for the nation to ditch Trump's 'America First' foreign policy.
'That says it all about Mattis. Obama fired him. I should have fired him sooner. Did best work after he was gone. World's most overrated general!' Trump wrote in response.
Mattis, a former Marine four-star general, in fact resigned in December 2018 after a clash over suddenly pulling U.S. troops out of Syria.
Mattis made the comments weeks after a MAGA mob stormed the Capitol, in events that lead to five deaths and a massive criminal investigation
Secretary James Mattis in a Virtual Online Event Conversation with Dr. Michael Vickers on January 26, 2021 hosted by The Office of Strategic Services Society said Donald Trump fomented the MAGA riot at the US Capitol on January 6
Kevin Seefried, a Donald Trump supporter, holds a Confederate flag outside the Senate Chamber during a rampage in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021
Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the Jan. 6 riot was 'fomented by a sitting president'
'Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position,' Mattis wrote Trump in his resignation letter.
The article called for restoring U.S. alliances and U.S. 'soft power' to influence the globe and U.S. interests and values.
During his online talk, Mattis also pointed to some of the effects of globalism as potentially animating resentment within the country.
“People are much more inclined to listen to conspiracy theories and other things when they’re losing hope,” he said.
He was speaking weeks after Trump told a group of supporters to 'fight' and claimed he had won the election despite losing to Joe Biden by 7 million votes. A MAGA mob went on to ransack the Capitiol, leading to the death of a Capitol Police officer.
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