John Kelly, former chief of staff to Donald Trump, defended former Defense Secretary James Mattis’ criticism of the president’s handling of the Black Lives Matter protests sweeping the nation. Kelly also refuted Trump’s claims that he had fired Mattis, who resigned in 2018 because he disagreed with Trump’s decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria. In his op-ed, Mattis accused Trump of trying to intentionally divide Americans. Trump clapped back at Mattis on Twitter, claiming he had fired Mattis and saying he was “glad” the general was gone.

“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. The president tweeted a very positive tweet about Jim until he started to see on Fox News their interpretation of his letter. Then he got nasty. Jim Mattis is a honorable man.”