Trump replaces Mattis with Dy Shanahan

“I am pleased to announce that our very talented Deputy Secretary of Defence, Patrick Shanahan, will assume the title of Acting Secretary of Defence starting January 1, 2019,” the Republican leader tweeted, accelerating Mattis’s planned departure by two months.

“Patrick has a long list of accomplishments while serving as Deputy, & previously Boeing. He will be great!”

General Mattis, 68, had been expected to leave the job in February, but on Sunday it was reported that the president had been considering removing him early. He had said that the President had the right to appoint someone “whose views are better aligned with yours”.

Shanahan is a former executive at the aerospace giant Boeing and joined the Trump administration last year.