President Trump told reporters that he asked for the resignation of James Mattis after not being happy with the job the former Secretary of Defense was doing.

According to The Hill:

President Trump says he forced former Defense Secretary James Mattis to resign as he “wasn’t happy with the job that he was doing at all,” according to an interview the president gave to The New York Times.

“So I wasn’t happy with Mattis. I told Mattis to give me a letter,” Trump told the Times.  “He didn’t just give me that letter. I told him.”

He continued: “I didn’t like the job he was doing. I wasn’t happy with it. I wasn’t happy with the — I got him more money than the military has ever seen before. And I wasn’t happy with the job that he was doing at all. And I said it’s time.”

…

In his resignation letter, Mattis stated that Trump deserved a general “whose views are better aligned with yours,” and signaled his concern with the way Trump treated allies in NATO as well as rivals such as China and Russia. 

Trump initially had nice things to say about the departing former General. Apparently, that is all over now. 

Mattis left following Trump’s decision to end combat operations in Syria and Afghanistan.