Mattis lashes out at Sean Spicer after he didn't stop pestering him

'I've killed people for a living. If you call me again, I'm going to [...] send you to Afghanistan. Are we clear?"'

Secretary of Defense James Mattis lashed out at former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer after repeated attempts to get him to go on Sunday-morning talk shows. These are the facts according to a partial passage from journalist Bob Woodward’s soon-to-be released book which was tweeted by an Associated Press reporter on Tuesday.

Spicer, a US Navy Reserve Commander apparently tried on several occasions to get Mattis to go on television, finally causing an incensed Mattis to issue the threat.

To date the Secretary of Defense has made only one appearance on a network since Donald Trump’s presidency began. That appearance was in May 2017 on CBS’s “Face the Nation”.

According to Woodward’s book which is due to be released next Tuesday, Mattis privately criticized Trump after a particularly trying meeting.

“After Trump left the meeting, Woodward recounts, “Mattis was particularly exasperated and alarmed, telling close associates that the president acted like — and had the understanding of — ‘a fifth- or sixth-grader.’ ”

Philip Rucker and Robert Costa, Washington Post, September 4, 2018

The Post also reported that Woodward’s book says Mattis had to rein in Trump following a phone call when the president ranted about wanting to "f---ing kill" Syrian President Bashar Assad. (Washington Post, September 4, 2018)

On Tuesday Mattis responded to Woodward’s reporting, condemning it as “a uniquely Washington brand of literature”.

"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."

Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, September 4, 2018

Further to this Mattis spoke of the contempt and disrespect which Woodward describes as being a product of his (Woodward’s) imagination. In concluding he said:

"In serving in this administration, the idea that I would show contempt for the elected Commander-in-Chief, President Trump, or tolerate disrespect to the office of the President from within our Department of Defense, is a product of someone's rich imagination."

Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, September 4, 2018