Secretary of Defense James Mattis laughed off rumors he might be leaving his post in the near future, saying Washington, D.C., loves to churn out rumors.
"Those have been pretty good ones, haven't they? I think about doing my job each day," Mattis said when asked about reports his time in the Pentagon might be ending soon.
Mattis then dismissed the reports altogether, saying they should not be taken seriously.
"I wouldn't take it seriously at all," he said. "It's like most of those kind of things in this town. Somebody cooks up a headline, they then call to a normally chatty class of people, they find a couple other things to put in, they add the rumor, somebody on the other coast starts writing the same thing, next thing you know you got a story. It will die down.
"Just the way the town is. Keep a sense of humor about it."
A story last week claimed President Donald Trump plans to replace Mattis at some point after the November midterm elections. Earlier this month, Trump pledged his support of Mattis and said the retired Marine general is staying put.