Overnight Defense: Mattis cruises through confirmation hearing

THE TOPLINE: Retired Marine Gen. James Mattis on Thursday cruised through his confirmation hearing despite senators’ attempts to draw him out in areas where he might disagree with President-elect Donald Trump.

Perhaps in a sign of how smoothly the hearing went, a handful of anti-war Code Pink members, who typically protest at the committee’s hearings, stayed silent throughout, only holding up peace signs with their hands and clapping at times.

Many of lawmakers’ questions focused on getting Mattis to break with Trump on the record, particularly on Russia.

Mattis obliged, calling Russia the “principal threat” to U.S. security.

{mosads}

Trump has said he wants to improve relations with Moscow and complimented Russian President Vladimir Putin as a strong leader. He’s also dismissed the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the election by hacking Democratic Party systems, treating the assessment as an attack on his legitimacy.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the committee, set the tone right away, saying in his opening statement that “Putin wants to be our enemy” and that Putin has left “a trail of death and destruction in his wake.”

McCain highlighted past presidents’ failed attempts to engage Putin and asked whether Mattis thinks the U.S. should learn from that.

“History is not a straight jacket, but I’ve never found a better guide,” Mattis responded, adding that there is a “relatively short list of successes” in bettering relations with Russia.

Mattis also broke with Trump on NATO, calling it the “most successful military alliance probably in modern world history, maybe ever.”

Trump had blasted NATO as obsolete on the campaign trail, saying it needed to do more to fight terrorism. He’s also questioned whether he would come to the defense of allies that are attacked if they haven’t met their defense funding goals.

The Hill’s Kristina Wong and Rebecca Kheel have more here. 

In case you missed the hearing, read The Hill’s live coverage here. 

Also from Rebecca, a look into Mattis’ position on women in combat here, which attracted scrutiny from Democrats.

LGBT groups also said they were “heartened” by Mattis’s testimony. Read more on that here.

 

SENATE APPROVES MATTIS WAIVER: It was a good day for the retired general.

Shortly after his hearing, the Senate Armed Services Committee easily passed a waiver exempting Mattis from a law that requires Defense secretaries to be retired from military service for at least seven years.

Mattis retired from the military in 2013. The law has been waived once before, for George Marshall in 1950.
The vote was 24-3, with Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), a Marine veteran, voting in opposition.

Later in the afternoon, it went to the full Senate floor where senators voted 81-17 to approve the waiver.

Read more on the vote here, from The Hill’s Jordain Carney. 

The full House is expected to vote on the waiver on Friday, after that chamber’s Armed Services Committee approved it in a party-line 34-28 vote.

That approval came despite anger from both the GOP chairman and Democratic members that President-elect Donald Trump did not allow Mattis to testify about the waiver.

Mattis had been scheduled to testify Thursday about civilian control of the military, but the House committee canceled the hearing Wednesday after being told by the Trump team that Mattis would not testify.

“Let me be clear: Gen. Mattis was willing and eager to do so,” Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said Thursday. “I talked to him personally. He gladly agreed to come answer our questions about the waiver or other topics. On Tuesday night of this week, however, I was informed that the president-elect’s transition team would not allow Mattis to testify after all. I think that is a mistake.”

The Hill’s Rebecca Kheel has full the story here. 

Also, Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) in a letter urged House Dems to vote no on the waiver. Rebecca has more here. 

 

TRUMP’S CIA PICK BREAKS WITH HIM ON RUSSIA: Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) at his confirmation hearing Thursday sought to reassure lawmakers that he would be an independent voice for the intelligence community as head of the CIA under President-elect Donald Trump.

In one notable break with Trump, Pompeo unequivocally backed the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the presidential election, calling their findings “sound.”

“With respect to this report in particular, it’s pretty clear about what took place here, about Russian involvement in efforts to hack information and to have an impact on American democracy,” he told the Senate Intelligence Committee. “This was an aggressive action taken by senior leadership inside of Russia.”

But the CIA nominee also swatted down some criticism of Trump, pushing back on senators who suggested the president-elect’s rhetoric is damaging morale at intelligence agencies. 

The Hill’s Katie Bo Williams has more here. 

Pompeo also said he would “absolutely not” obey an order from Trump to torture a suspect. For more on that, click here.

 

ON TAP FOR TOMORROW: 

The House is expected to vote on the waiver for Mattis. Watch C-SPAN for live coverage. 

 

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