Swalwell: We are ‘less safe’ with Mattis leaving

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) on Thursday said Americans are “less safe” now following Defense Secretary James Mattis’s resignation from the administration.

Swalwell, appearing on CNN’s “Out Front” with Erin Burnett, said Mattis often tried to “intervene against the president’s worst instincts.”

{mosads}“It’s just a fear that the adults in the room, the experts — who the president said he’s going to hire the best and rely on the best — that they’re leaving and that makes us less safe,” the lawmaker, who has said he is considering a 2020 White House run, said. 

Longterm staff members left behind in the White House will be senior adviser Stephen Miller and counselor Kellyanne Conway, Swalwell said, “something that should terrify everyone.” 

Swalwell, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said he hopes Mattis’s resignation spurs Republicans in Congress to speak out against the Trump administration.

“We do have an executive branch in crisis,” he added.

With James Mattis quitting, @RepSwalwell says the only “adults in the room” remaining in the Trump administration are Stephen Miller and Kellyanne Conway, adding “that should terrify everyone.”

Swalwell notes: “We do have an executive branch in crisis.”https://t.co/AtSXHLGiNp pic.twitter.com/xDF36a7xRt

— OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) December 20, 2018

Mattis announced his departure just a day after the White House said it would withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. Reports also suggest the White House is considering reducing the number of troops in Afghanistan.

Mattis, in a striking resignation letter to Trump, detailed his concern about the way Trump treated allies in NATO as well as rivals like China and Russia.

He wrote that his “core belief” is that U.S. strength is “inextricably linked with the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships.”

“My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues,” Mattis wrote. “We must do everything possible to advance an international order that is most conducive to our security, prosperity and values, and we are strengthened in this effort by the solidarity of our alliances.”

He concluded the letter by writing that the president had a “right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with your on these and other subjects.”