President Donald Trump’s former attorney, John Dowd, recently took the time to call out former Secretary of Defense General James Mattis in a scathing letter that referred to demonstrators as “terrorists,” according to The Guardian .
Dowd’s letter came after Mattis penned a letter to Trump regarding the use of force against protesters outside the White House. Mattis was pointed in his reprimand for his former boss, calling on the president to see the protesters’ mission as a whole and not to be distracted by what he called a “small number of lawbreakers,” according to The Atlantic .
The use of force that Mattis cited came after a night of protesting devolved into riots, including arson and vandalism. The morning after protests became violent, police moved the White House perimeter outward, and what was reportedly a peaceful protest was broken up and dispersed.
Dowd jumped to Trump’s defense, saying that Mattis’s letter was proof that he has come under the influence of “ugly, hateful, disgraceful” politicians and possibly let himself be used by them to criticize a Republican president they would like to see out of office.
Dowd went on to support the president’s use of force and even called those pushed out of Lafayette Park to be “phony protesters” who “were not peaceful and are not real.” Dowd went on to call them “terrorists” and seemed to uphold the president’s position on their removal.
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try,” Mattis stated in his letter.
“Instead, he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership.”
“This is not partisan bluster. This is the sound of lifelong patriots warning that this President’s autocratic impulses are a threat to the republic,” says @JohnAvlon about former Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis speaking out against Trump. #RealityCheck pic.twitter.com/g1cMQE5dme
— CNN This Morning (@CNNThisMorning) June 5, 2020
Mattis left his post as secretary of defense late in 2018 after serving under Trump for some time. While the former defense secretary was widely thought to be respectful at the time of his departure, he was clear that it was a difference of opinion on strategy that caused him to leave his post.
However, Mattis wasn’t the only former right-leaning official to withdraw support from Trump in recent days. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said the president had “drifted away” from the constitution in respect to the protests, as The Inquisitr previously reported.
Powell also voiced his support for other high ranking officials who have spoken their minds about what the president could have done differently in dealing with the protests.
