WASHINGTON – President Trump has made it official and will nominate Patrick Shanahan to be his administration’s second Secretary of Defense.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Thursday afternoon that it was “based upon his outstanding service to the Country and his demonstrated ability to lead.”
Shanahan became the acting Secretary of Defense on January 1, taking over the Pentagon from James Mattis.
Trump announced Mattis’ departure from the administration on December 20. But soon a resignation letter Mattis wrote became public where the president’s original Secretary of Defense said that the president had the “right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours.”
Mattis’ decision to leave came on the heels of the president announcing he planned to withdraw American troops from Syria, a position on which the two men disagreed.
Shanahan had been serving as the department’s deputy at the time.
“Acting Secretary Shanahan has proven over the last several months that he is beyond qualified to lead the Department of Defense, and he will continue to do an excellent job,” Huckabee Sanders said.