Pentagon chief hits out at Trump over US protests

Pentagon chief hits out at Trump over US protests

Jun 04, 2020 16:11 IST

President Donald Trump's Pentagon chief shot down his idea of using troops to quell protests across the United States on Wednesday. Both Trump and Defense Secretary Mark Esper also drew stinging, rare public criticism from Trump's first defense secretary, Jim Mattis who resigned in December 2018 over Trump's ordering of a full troop withdrawal from Syria. Mattis also voiced support for the demonstrators whose anti-racism rallies have roiled the country.  Mattis wrote in a blistering statement posted online by The Atlantic that Donald Trump is the first president in his lifetime who does not try to unite the American people and does not even pretend to try. Trump responded on Twitter by calling Mattis 'the world's most overrated General'