visit to a combat zone was with ahe first lady and give him chance to hear directly from commanders on the ground and the president noted the remarkable job u.s. forces have done, taking the fight to the islamic state terror group. with the near elimination of the isis territorial caliphate in iraq and in syria. the timing of the trip comes as the secretary of defensel d the special envoy for the correlation to defeat isis have both resigned. defense secretary jim mattis is out at the end of the year after being critical of the president s foreign policy and brett mcgurk was planningar to leave in early 2019 but turned in his resignation and protest of the president s plan to pull u.s. forces out of syria. the president invited the iraqi prime minister to the white house next year and we are told he accepted the invitation.. i should note, air force one has touched down in germany for a refueling stop where the commander in chief s meeting with more u.s. military personnel. tammy?
needle and try to make his points and, quite frankly, educate president trump on some of these issues and so the departure of him is something that is, i think, going down in the history books. tammy: well, christian whiton is a former state department senior advisor to trump and george w. bush administrations. he joins us now. christian, i really don t recall woodward saying that when barack obama fired mattis that that was a tragedy. did i miss that part? [laughs] the pearl clutching really has gotten out of control. mattis did what he was supposed to do, kill isis, that was the urgent crisis, that is what president trump promised to do. that is what he did. he helped unlock the promise of our forces and helped w get the lawyers out of the way and let our soldiers do their job. but mattis was opposed to trump on most other things.. he wanted to stay in the paris climate boondoggle.
president trump went to see the troops in a combat zone at a time when he s made significant as it concerns about american foreign policy and there is also a shake-up of some of his senior leadership. the president and first lady left late christmas night under tight security to visit american forces serving in iraq at christmas time. some of the message was clearly to us those men and women a merry christmas and to thank them for their dedicated service. while the president has announced plans to withdraw troops from nearby syria, he says he plans to keep them in iraq where they can still launch strikes against isis. when i became president, they were a very dominant group. they were very dominant. today, they are not so dominant anymore. [cheers and applause] great job. the president had taken some heat from the media, noting he was the first commander-in-chief to not place at the in 15 years. then he landed at the airbase in iraq today, likely neutralizing
mattis was able to thread the needle and try to make his points and, quite frankly, educate president trump on some of these issues and so the departure of him is something that is, i think, going down in the history books. tammy: welcome a christian right and is a former state department senior advisor to trump and george w. bush administrations. he joins us now. christian, i really don t recall what word saying that when barack obama fired mattis that that was a tragedy. that i missed that part? [laughs] the pearl coaching really has gotten out of control. mattis did what he was about to do, kill isis, that was the urgent crisis, that is what resident trump promised to do. that is what he did. he helped unlock the promise of our forces and help get the lawyers out of the way and let our soldiers do their job. but mattis was supposed to trump on most other things. he wanted to stay in the paris
decisions about american foreign policy and there is also a shake-up of some of his senior leadership. the president and first lady left late christmas night under tight security to visit american forces serving in iraq at christmas time. some of the message was clearly to us those men and women a merry christmas and to thank them for their dedicated service. while the president has announced plans to withdraw troops from nearby syria, he says he plans to keep them in iraqun where they can still launch strikes against isis. when i became president, they were a very dominant group. they were very dominant. today, they are not so dominant anymore. [cheers and applause] great job. the president had taken some heat from the media, noting he was the first commander-in-chief to not visit the troops in 15 years. then he landed at the al-asad airbase in iraq today, likely neutralizing that attack. the commander in chief s first