Biden on Mattis resignation: Trump admin has ‘abandoned’ core American beliefs

Former Vice President Joe Biden criticized the Trump administration as having “abandoned” American beliefs following Defense Secretary James Mattis’s Thursday resignation announcement. 

“I’ve had disagreements with Secretary Mattis, but we shared the view — long-held by Democrats and Republicans in this nation — that respect for our allies and a commitment to the most important and effective alliances in history made America safer,” Biden said on Twitter a few hours after the announcement. 

Biden is weighing a run for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020.

“It is clear this administration has abandoned those core American beliefs. Secretary Mattis’ presence and his voice of reason and experience will be missed in the Pentagon and the Situation Room,” he continued in a second tweet. 

I’ve had disagreements with Secretary Mattis, but we shared the view — long-held by Democrats and Republicans in this nation — that respect for our allies and a commitment to the most important and effective alliances in history made America safer.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 21, 2018

It is clear this administration has abandoned those core American beliefs. Secretary Mattis’ presence and his voice of reason and experience will be missed in the Pentagon and the Situation Room.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 21, 2018

{mosads}

Mattis resigned in a letter to President Trump dated Thursday, and is expected to leave the White House in February.

Biden referenced Mattis’s letter in his tweet, loosely quoting Mattis about the United States’ relationship with allies. 

“My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues,” Mattis wrote. “We must do everything possible to advance an international order that is most conducive to our security, prosperity and values, and we are strengthened in this effort by the solidarity of our alliances.”

“Because you have a right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position,” Mattis added.

Biden joined many of Democrats who said they were worried or surprised after the resignation. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, suggested the Trump administration would be destabilized by the defense secretary’s departure, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters: “I’m sad. I’m shaken by it. I had so much respect for him.” 

Biden and Mattis share a complicated past. Former President Obama is accused of pushing Mattis out of his position in Central Command during in 2013.