GOP lawmaker calls Mattis ‘right guy for this right time’

Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) on Monday praised retired Marine Gen. James Mattis as the right choice to lead the Department of Defense (DOD).

{mosads}”I fought with Mattis in Fallujah, and I can tell you, he is the right guy for this right time,” Zinke, a retired Navy SEAL, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“He’s tough. He is a reluctant warrior in that he’s the last person that wants to go to war. … But if he goes to war, he goes to war to win.”

Mattis will face three challenges in Donald Trump’s administration, according to Zinke.

“One is to shore up front-line capability, our front lines, make sure we have the right equipment, right training. Second, we got to shore up our allies. We have to restore trust,” he said.

“And lastly, the DOD itself, he’s about to enter the bureaucracy of the DOD. We’ve become too top-heavy.”

Zinke said there have been other “great men” before Mattis that have tried to “undo” the bureaucracy.

“It’s going to take a warrior to cut through it,” he said.

The president-elect announced earlier this month he would be nominating Mattis as his pick for secretary of Defense.

Last month, Trump called the former military official “the real deal.”