Mattis Plays Down Trump-Tillerson Split Over North Korea

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday played down President Donald Trump's apparent rebuke of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson over his outreach to North Korea, saying he did not think Tillerson had significantly diverged from Trump's guidance against negotiations until the time is right.

"President Trump's guidance to both Secretary Tillerson and me has been very clearly that we would ... pursue the diplomatic effort to include with the various initiatives with China," Mattis told a Senate hearing, adding: "I do not see the divergence as strongly as some of have interpreted it."