President Trump has plenty of critics who fault him for not visiting U.S. troops in combat zones during his first two years in office, but Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is not among them.
“The president’s the commander in chief, and he decides where he needs to go,” Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon Wednesday.
“There are times I don’t want him in certain locations, to be frank with you, for his security and the troops’ security.”
Trump cited security as one of the reasons he has yet to make a visit to active war zones, in a recent interview with “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace.
“There are things that are being planned. We don’t want to talk about it because of — obviously because of security reasons and everything else,” he said when asked why he had not yet visited troops on the front lines.
“Well, I think you will see that happen,” Trump said.
But Mattis confirmed that he has advised the president to stay away from some danger zones, which he would not name.
“There’s places that I’ve been very straightforward: I don’t want him to go at certain times. Yes, absolutely,” he said.
And he dismissed the criticism of Trump as misguided.
“Don’t worry about that,” he told the reporter who asked the question. “That’s not a big [deal].”
