Defense Secretary Jim Mattis Friday refused to be drawn into criticism of President Trump’s remarks before a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention this week, in which Trump assailed “the fake news media,” and told the audience, “Don’t believe the crap you see from these people.”
The attack on the press, which included Trump urging attendees to “remember, what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening,” prompted some audience members to loudly boo the reporters covering the speech, and later prompted the VFW to say it was “disappointed” with audience members’ reaction.
In an informal meeting with reporters at the Pentagon Friday, Mattis declined to defend the president’s unrelenting assault on the free press, which is protected by the Constitution’s First Amendment.
Asked by a reporter from Fox News for his reaction to the president’s Tuesday remarks, Mattis paused and said, “The Department of Defense swears an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution.”
“We live in raucous democracy, that’s what we defend,” he added. “We continue with our duty to uphold the Constitution, protect the country, that’s our job.”
Asked by another reporter if that included the press freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment, Mattis shot the journalist a quizzical look and then laughed off the question.
“Last time I checked. I’ll have to go back to my 7th grade civics and history book,” he said.
Mattis said he made a point of dropping in on the reporters who work out of the Pentagon’s “Correspondent’s Corridor” due to a recent rash of reports about the decline in Defense Department briefings and other media availabilities.
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