The Pentagon Wednesday strongly denied a New York Times story that said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis urged President Trump to get congressional approval before launching cruise missiles toward Syria last week, but was overruled by the president.
The story is “blatantly false,” said Dana White, the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, in an email to the Washington Examiner.
The Times account, which was attributed to military and administration officials, said Trump ignored the advice from Mattis because he wanted a “rapid and dramatic response.”
A Pentagon official who did not want to named insisted “there was no debate” about the need to get congressional approval. “Everyone agreed POTUS was justified under Article II,” the official said.
Article II Section 2 of the Constitution names the president commander in chief of the armed forces. It was the same justification that Mattis gave in his post-strike news conference at the Pentagon on Friday night.
“As our commander in chief, the president has the authority under Article II of the Constitution to use military force overseas to defend important United States national interests,” Mattis said. “The United States has vital national interests in averting a worsening catastrophe in Syria, and specifically deterring the use and proliferation of chemical weapons.”
