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Former Defense Secretary James Mattis blasted his former boss in a statement released on Wednesday, accusing the president of trying to divide Americans.

"Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people – does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us," Mattis wrote in a statement published by The Atlantic Magazine.

"We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort," he added. "We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children."

The former secretary also denounced Trump’s visit to St. John’s Church, where protesters wore forcibly cleared out of the area.

"We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Park," he said. "We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution."

Mattis has abstained from criticizing his former boss since he left his job in December 2018.

"Only by adopting a new path—which means, in truth, returning to the original path of our founding ideals—will we again be a country admired and respected at home and abroad,” Mattis concluded.

Trump responded late Thursday night saying that “the only thing Barack Obama & I have in common is that we both had the honor of firing Jim Mattis,” Trump tweeted.

Former Chief of Staff John Kelly seemed to contradict the president in an interview with The Washington Post, saying that Trump did not fire Mattis.

“The president did not fire him. He did not ask for his resignation,” Kelly told the Washington Post. “The president has clearly forgotten how it actually happened or is confused.”

Later, the president responded to Kelly’s accusation, saying that Kelly didn’t know about the firing and “was not in the inner-circle.”

“John Kelly didn’t know I was going to fire James Mattis, nor did he have any knowledge of my asking for a letter of resignation. Why would I tell him, he was not... ...in my inner-circle, was totally exhausted by the job, and in the end just slinked away into obscurity. They all want to come back for a piece of the limelight!”

He added: “The problem with asking for someone to give you a letter of resignation, which you do as a courtesy to help them save face, is that it is then harder to say you fired them. I did fire James Mattis. He was no good for Obama, who fired him also, and was no good for me!”
                
This article was last modified on June 4, 2020 at 7:35 PM ET
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