The United States President Donald Trump’s administration is considering former democratic senator Jim Webb as the next US defence secretary, who has served as Navy secretary under the republican president Ronald Reagan.
According to news reported on Thursday, it said vice president Mike Pence and the acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney had met with Jim Webb. It further said a senior defence department official has confirmed Webb’s name as in next defence secretary, which had been now circulated at the White House for further approval.
In December, Jim Mattis had resigned after the US president announced his decision to withdraw its troops from Syria and asserted that Islamic State had been now defeated and flagged the victory against the ISIS. Trump had said a day after Mattis’s resignation that he essentially had fired Mattis, who wrote a resignation letter rebuking Trump’s decision.
Afterwards, Trump has announced defence secretary deputy Patrick Shanahan’s name as the next US defence secretary.
The reports said Webb would potentially allow the president to bypass “more hawkish Republicans whose names have been floated to replace Jim Mattis.”
It said former Republican Senator Jim Talent, Republican senators Tom Cotton and Lindsey Graham had been mentioned as a possible replacement for Mattis as new defence secretary.
However, the White House denied to comment over the reports. Reports said Webb also denied to a request for a comment.