Secretary of Defense James Mattis (R), pictured here with Vice President Mike Pence, announced his resignation Thursday and will stay on until the end of February. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis did the "right thing and honorable thing" by announcing his resignation this week, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday, praising the outgoing Pentagon chief for stepping down over his disagreements with President Donald Trump.
In a surprise move, Mattis announced his resignation Thursday afternoon, writing in a resignation letter to the president that he would step down "because you have the right to have a secretary of defense whose views are better aligned" with Trump's own. The move followed the president's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, a move he reportedly made against the advice of Mattis and other national security advisers.
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In an interview on Fox News' "Fox & Friends," Sanders said that Mattis and Trump "continue to have a good relationship" even though the two "disagree on a number of fronts."
"At the end of the day, the American people elected one person to be the commander-in-chief and to make decisions," Sanders said. "The president listens to all of his national security team, of which is a big group. He takes their advice. And at the end of the day, he makes the decision."
"If Secretary Mattis doesn't feel like he is the right person to fill that job, I think it was the right thing and honorable thing that he did in stepping aside to put somebody in a position he feels like is the right person for that time," Sanders said.
Mattis, in his resignation letter, distanced himself from the president's foreign relations and military policies, in particular Trump's sometimes antagonistic relationship with longtime U.S. allies as well as his relatively warm relationship with Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin.
The retired four-star general will stay on until the end of February.
Asked whether the White House has a list of candidates it is considering to replace Mattis, Sanders said, "I think there are a lot of people on that list," although she declined to offer specifics.
"The good news is we have a strong deputy at the Defense Department that can help hold the ground while we transition and look for a new person and go through the confirmation process," Sanders said.
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