President Trump signed legislation Friday afternoon allowing retired Gen. James Mattis to serve as defense secretary.
By law, a military officer must be retired for seven years before becoming defense secretary. Mattis retired in 2013 after 44 years in the Marine Corps, and to get around that, Congress passed legislation changing the law to let Mattis serve.
The Senate is expected to confirm Mattis as defense secretary as early as this afternoon.
Trump’s signing took place in a ceremony in which he signed other documents to formally nominate his proposed Cabinet members.
