Defense Secretary James Mattis was caught off-guard by the controversy surrounding President Trump’s now-withdrawn nominee to lead the Army, the Washington Examiner reported Friday.
Mark Green on Friday blamed “false and misleading attacks” for his decision to withdraw from consideration to be Army secretary. Green was opposed by Democrats and a coalition of 41 civil rights groups over comments he made about LGBT service members.
Mattis was unaware of Green’s controversial statements when he vouched for Green to Trump last month, the report said.
{mosads}In particular, LGBT advocates seized on comments Green made to the Chattanooga Tea Party last year, when he said that “transgender is a disease” and attacked President Obama’s transgender mandate for public schools.
The report said Mattis backed Green largely because of his strong military record, including being the first person to interrogate Saddam Hussein following his capture in 2004.
And it quoted a Pentagon official saying the White House was in charge of vetting Green.
Green accused his opponents of “blatantly falsifying what I’ve said” in his statement withdrawing from the nomination.
“I believe that every American has a right to defend their country regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and religion. It’s the radical left that won’t allow the latter,” he argued.