THE GENERAL SITUATION: There was surprisingly little pushback from the Pentagon yesterday to the NBC report that disclosed details of tensions between President Trump and his national security staff in a contentious two-hour long situation room meeting last month. “I have no interest in adding to the chatter,” said one official confronted in a hallway yesterday. No one was disputing even the smallest detail of the account, which revealed the president’s displeasure with options for Afghanistan and distrust of the advice of his top generals.

None of Pentagon officials queried yesterday was willing to saying anything on the record about the meeting, in part because none of them was there. “I wasn’t in the room,” said one official who questioned whether Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who famously likes to walk the halls of the Pentagon, took a longer than usual walk to blow off steam after returning from the White House.