Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday that reports President Trump proposed a tenfold increase in U.S. nuclear weapons and the secretary of state called the president a “moron” never happened.
Mattis said he at first thought his staff was playing a joke when he read the NBC News report Wednesday that Trump had called for the massive increase during a tense Pentagon meeting in July.
“There was no discussion with that tone or that content that I recall in the Pentagon or at any other time,” Mattis told reporters during an impromptu visit to the Pentagon press area. “I will even remove that I recall. I think I would recall a conversation about doubling or ten times the nukes, Okay. I’ve never had that discussion.”
The secretary said such a suggestion by Trump would have required him to follow up. He released a short statement earlier this week denying the report, which said the president pointed to a chart of current nuclear weapons and indicated the level of increase he wanted.
“If I had gotten word like that I surely would have asked for a meeting to go back over and say whether or not I thought it was good idea,” Mattis said.
He also recounted the July meeting with Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Vice President Mike Pence, and other top officials in a secure meeting room at the Pentagon where Tillerson reportedly called the president a “moron.”
Mattis said he left the meeting walking with both Trump and Tillerson along a rope line of troops, where both shook hands.
“I was right there so anyone who says that he called someone a moron, I mean, I was there with him the whole way and that never happened,” Mattis said.
