Mattis Reportedly Told Sean Spicer, ‘I’ve Killed People for a Living,’ and More

The new Bob Woodward book is causing controversy on multiple fronts.

An excerpt from the book suggests that Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis did not take well to repeated requests from former White House press secretary Sean Spicer to appear on various talk shows to promote Trump administration policies and initiatives.

True or not?

That remains to be seen, although Woodward — he of Watergate fame, together with Carl Bernstein — is known for the precision of his research in the many books he’s written over the years, although he often references anonymous sources.

“Sean, I’ve killed people for a living,” the secretary of defense presumably said, as the Military Times reported on Wednesday about the book excerpt.

“If you call me again, I’m going to f***ing send you to Afghanistan. Are we clear?” Mattis supposedly said to Spicer on the phone.

The Times piece on the issue also mentioned that Mattis has appeared just once on a network TV news show, on “Face the Nation” in May 2017, to promote Trump administration policies, in which he was asked what keeps him up at night, and he replied, “I keep other people awake at night.”

Mattis has already refuted the claims in the Woodward book, called “Fear: Trump in the White House,” which alleges to be an inside look at the current administration and its people and policies. The book paints a chaotic picture and provides behind-the-scenes stories of the president’s clashes with his military generals and other staff, as LifeZette earlier reported.

Mattis released a statement attacking the book’s accuracy. “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,” he said.

He also said the book was the “product of someone’s rich imagination.”

Woodward claims President Trump routinely chews out aides for incompetence or disloyalty — and that he berates his generals for not yet winning the war in Afghanistan. The legendary journalist also reportedly details how staff secretary Rob Porter and Gary Cohn, senior economic adviser, objected strongly to the president’s tough stance on tariffs and trade.

The book is already being called fiction by both the president and others in the administration.

“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,” Mattis wrote.

“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.”

Trump thanked Mattis for his statement on Twitter — and called the Woodward book “boring” and “untrue.”

(photo credit, homepage and article images: James Mattis, CC BY 2.0, by James N. Mattis)