Defense Secretary Jim Mattis rejects Trump's war on the media as he says 'I don't have any issues with the press'
- Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has rebuffed Trump's claim that press is 'enemy'
- Trump on Friday called major news outlets 'enemies of the American people'
- Mattis says relationship with free press can be contentious, but is necessary
- 'Welcome to democracy,' says Mattis. 'I don't have any issues with the press'
- Senator McCain: Suppressing the free press 'how dictators get started'
- This after Trump chief of staff said to take Trump's remarks 'seriously'
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis does not think the free press is the 'enemy of the American people,' in spite of his boss' declaration otherwise.
'I don't have any issues with the press, myself,' Mattis said on Sunday.
The Pentagon chief broke ranks with President Donald Trump in remarks to reporters traveling with him in the United Arab Emirates, after he was questioned about Trump's tweet on Friday that branded the press 'the enemy of the American people.'
Mattis, a retired Marine general seen as one of the most influential voices in Trump's cabinet, did not mention his boss by name, but did take an entirely different position.
'I've had some rather contentious times with the press. But no, the press, as far as I'm concerned, are a constituency that we deal with,' he said. 'Welcome to democracy.'
![Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is shown at NATO defense conference earlier this week. 'The press, as far as I'm concerned, are a constituency that we deal with,' he said Sunday](http://web.archive.org./web/20170224032346/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/02/19/19/3D6C6BE700000578-0-image-a-65_1487533755592.jpg)
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is shown at NATO defense conference earlier this week. 'The press, as far as I'm concerned, are a constituency that we deal with,' he said Sunday
![Trump stepped up his verbal assault on the free press in this Friday tweet](http://web.archive.org./web/20170224032346/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/02/19/19/3D69C8C000000578-0-image-a-67_1487533898037.jpg)
Trump stepped up his verbal assault on the free press in this Friday tweet
Mattis spoke after talks with European leaders at a security conference in Munich, Germany, where U.S. Senator John McCain warned that suppressing the free press was 'how dictators get started.'
'If you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press. And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time,' McCain told NBC's 'Meet the Press' program on Sunday.
Since his January 20 inauguration, Trump has fiercely criticized various news outlets that have reported unflattering revelations of dysfunction in the White House.
He has described them as 'lying', 'corrupt' and 'failing,' and late on Friday he said the news media was 'the enemy of the American people.'
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus doubled down on that assertion on Saturday.
![Mattis disagrees with Trump that the press is 'the enemy of the American people' (file photo)](http://web.archive.org./web/20170224032346/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/02/19/19/3D5F31B500000578-0-image-a-66_1487533887852.jpg)
Mattis disagrees with Trump that the press is 'the enemy of the American people' (file photo)
![Trump speaks to the press aboard Air Force One on Saturday ahead of a campaign rally in Florida. On Friday he said the news media was 'the enemy of the American people'](http://web.archive.org./web/20170224032346/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/02/19/20/3D6BE02E00000578-0-image-a-75_1487534455065.jpg)
Trump speaks to the press aboard Air Force One on Saturday ahead of a campaign rally in Florida. On Friday he said the news media was 'the enemy of the American people'
'I think you should take it seriously,' Priebus said in a combative interview with CBS, when asked about Trump's tweet.
'I think that the problem we've got is that we're talking about bogus stories like the one in the New York Times, that we've had constant contact with Russian officials,' referring to a report citing four current and former U.S. officials.
'The next day, the Wall Street Journal had a story that the intel community was not giving the president a full intelligence briefing,' Priebus continued, referring to a report that intelligence officials have withheld certain sensitive information from Trump over concerns that it could be leaked or compromised.
'Both stories grossly inaccurate, overstated, overblown, and it's total garbage,' Priebus said.
Trump has lambasted the reports as 'fake news' sourced from 'illegal leaks,' but confusingly conceded that 'the leaks are absolutely real.'
His latest verbal attacks on the free press, which he amplified at a campaign rally in Florida on Saturday, followed a week of difficult news for his administration.
First, the revelation that National Security Advisor Michael Flynn had lied about his conversations with the Russian ambassador prompted Flynn's resignation.
Then Trump's nominee for labor secretary, Andrew Puzder, withdrew his name from consideration after reporters found a tape of his ex-wife sharing domestic abuse allegations with Oprah Winfrey in 1990.
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