Veteran journalist Bob Woodward outlined a latest e-mail he acquired from former Protection Secretary James Mattis, the place he seemingly agreed with Woodward’s dire warning a couple of second Trump administration.
Throughout an look Thursday on “The Bulwark Podcast,” Woodward instructed the host that Mattis — who served underneath former President Trump — acknowledged Gen. Mark Milley’s evaluation that the previous president is “the most dangerous person ever” and appeared to concur.
”He thinks the e-book is necessary,” the muckraker mentioned of Mattis. ”He believes it’s true. And it was a type of, you recognize, ‘Hey, I understand this.’ It was the strongest endorsement.”
Woodward additionally famous that the previous protection chief’s e-mail echoed a few of his personal theories about Trump that he outlined in his new e-book “War.”
“Yes, most certainly,” he mentioned on the podcast. “And an endorsement of this process of trying to explicitly say, ‘Let’s make sure we don’t try to downplay the threat, because the threat is high.’”
Mattis was Trump’s first protection secretary. He resigned in December 2018 after a fallout with the previous president over the withdrawal of American troops from Syria.
Trump took photographs at Mattis in June 2020, calling him the “world’s most overrated general” and criticizing his management capabilities. The rebuke got here after the previous administration official tore into his former boss, arguing he was dividing the nation in wake of the George Floyd protests in 2020.
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try,” Mattis wrote on the time.
“As a substitute, he tries to divide us. We’re witnessing the results of three years of this deliberate effort,” he continued. “We’re witnessing the results of three years with out mature management.”
Woodward’s newest feedback come as Trump has confronted scrutiny over his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. That criticism was solely exacerbated by the brand new e-book, which alleges the previous president has nonetheless been involved with Putin.
Whereas the Trump marketing campaign denied the claims, the GOP presidential nominee mentioned, “I don’t comment on that, but I will tell you that if I did, it is a smart thing.”