Sen. Dick Durbin said that Democrats had counted on Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to protect national security, and that many senators privately begged him to stay.
“I was one of many senators who privately sat down with Gen. Mattis and said, ‘Please stay, stay as long as you possibly can,‘“ the Illinois Democrat said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press. “We desperately need your mature voice, your patriotism in the room when this president’s making life or death decisions about national security. But it obviously reached a breaking point.“
The Senate’s No. 2 Democrat added: “It breaks my heart that he’s going to step aside. We counted on him to be there and to stop this president from his worst impulse.”
Mattis resigned from the Trump’s Cabinet on Thursday in protest of the president’s abrupt announcement to withdraw all U.S. forces from Syria. The president announced Sunday that Mattis, who had intended to stay until Feb. 28, will be replaced by his deputy, Patrick Shanahan, who will start as acting secretary of defense on Jan. 1.
Mattis wrote in his resignation letter that he felt he could no longer continue to execute Trump’s policies, and cited importance of what he called America’s “unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships.”
“Because you have the right to have a secretary of defense whose views are better aligned with yours … I believe it is right for me to step down from my position,” Mattis said, saying his last day will be on Feb. 28. Mattis’ resignation completes a near complete shake-up of Trump’s initial national security team.
Earlier in the NBC show, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said that Mattis’ resignation letter shows just where Trump and many Republicans differ on foreign policy.
“I think Gen. Mattis has put his finger on where the president has views that are very, very distinct from the vast majority of Republicans and probably Democrats, elected and unelected,” said Toomey.
The GOP lawmaker also added that: “I strongly disagree with this decision to withdraw, prematurely in my view, from Syria.”
Toomey said that the Senate must now push back on Trump’s authority when it comes to U.S. foreign policy.
“The president’s views are so divergent, certainly, from mine that I think I’ll be much — this one’s going to be tough,“ he said, adding that he believes “senators need to step up and reassert a bigger role for the Senate.”
Durbin echoed those thoughts, calling “the power of the purse strings” the best way for the Senate to hold Trump accountable.
“We need to reassert our authority and responsibility when it comes to that,” he told host Chuck Todd.
