James Mattis was President Donald Trump's first defence secretary - but resigned in 2018. [Source: BBC]
Former US Defence Secretary James Mattis has denounced President Donald Trump, accusing him of stoking division and abusing his authority.
In rare public comments, Mattis said the president had sought to “divide” the American people and had failed to provide “mature leadership”.
He said he was “angry and appalled” by Trump’s handling of recent unrest.
Mattis resigned in 2018 after the president decided to withdraw US troops from Syria.
He has remained largely silent since then, until his stinging rebuke of the Trump administration was published in The Atlantic magazine on Wednesday.
In apparent response to the criticism, Mr Trump posted a series of tweets in which he said Mattis was “the world’s most overrated general”.
