Statement blasts aide

Jim Mattis statement blasts aide's tell-all memoir

By WESLEY MORGAN

Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’ office slammed a memoir by one of his former Pentagon aides today, issuing a statement saying that he doesn’t plan on reading the book and attacking its author for writing it. But the statement didn't deny any of the book's claims.

“General Mattis hasn’t read the book and doesn’t intend to,” Mattis’ assistant wrote in an email, referring to retired Navy Cmdr. Guy Snodgrass’ forthcoming memoir, “Holding the Line: Inside Trump’s Pentagon with Secretary Mattis.”

The book, which portrays Mattis fending off capricious demands from Trump and voicing private fears that the president was weakening U.S. national security, will be released Oct. 29.

“Mr. Snodgrass was a junior staffer who took notes in some meetings but played no role in decision making. His choice to write a book reveals an absence of character,” the statement from Mattis’ assistant, Candace Currier, says, adding that “surreptitiously taking notes without authorization for a self-promoting personal project is a clear violation of that trust.”

Snodgrass “may receive a few brief moments of attention for this book. But those moments will be greatly outweighed by the fact that to get them, he surrendered his honor,” the statement continued.