Mattis Slams NBC Report on Trump, Nukes: ‘This Kind of Erroneous Reporting Is Irresponsible’

Defense Secretary James Mattis put out a statement this afternoon echoing President Trump’s cries of fake news in response to an NBC News report saying Trump wants a “nearly tenfold increase” in the nation’s nuclear arsenal.

After the NBC report dropped, the President lashed out on Twitter and threatened action against press outlets:

With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2017

Earlier this afternoon, Trump reiterated this criticism, saying: “It’s frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write.” He also mentioned Mattis would be releasing a statement about the imbroglio.

And minutes later, he did:

NEW: SecDef Mattis statement: “Recent reports that the President called for an increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal are absolutely false.” pic.twitter.com/XfwNLSEA9Y

— Dan Linden (@DanLinden) October 11, 2017

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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