Secretary of Defense James Mattis steered clear of passing any type of judgement on NFL players kneeling during the national anthem during a press gaggle on a flight to India Monday.
“I’m the secretary of defense. We defend the country,” is all Mattis would give on the subject. Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Rob Manning went a bit further in a briefing with reporters Monday with respect to service academy players, expressing his “hope” that they would stand.