Republican senators shrug off Mattis' criticism of Trump: 'It's his opinion'

Mattis, who has widespread support among Senate Republicans for his long military service to the country, contended that Trump "does not even pretend to try" to unite the country and is instead engaged in a "deliberate effort" to divide the country, while lacking "mature leadership." Mattis excoriated Trump's decision to hold a photo-op Monday at a church near the White House, saying troops were ordered to "violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens" who were protesting but were cleared out by police with force to make way for the President's visit.

The criticism, however, was met with a shrug of the shoulders by several senior Republicans on Thursday.

"It's Gen. Mattis' opinion, he's free to express it," Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told CNN. Asked again if he agreed with any of the criticism, Johnson said: "All I'm going to say about Gen. Mattis is I do respect him. He's a great American. It's his opinion to express it."

Johnson also would not weigh in on how the Monday event took place, contending "I still haven't seen any footage of how the crowd was cleared out."

Leaving the floor on Thursday morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was silent when asked twice about Mattis' criticism, returning to his office and ignoring a reporter's questions.

The reaction reflects how many top Republicans on Capitol Hill have calculated that their fortunes in the 2020 elections rest in large part on Trump's performance at the polls -- and a messy, internecine war with a President with an itchy Twitter finger would amount to a fruitless and damaging endeavor.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham said that while Mattis is "an American hero" and has "every right to criticize President Trump," he said: "I think he's missing a lot here."

"It's just politically fashionable to blame Trump for everything -- and I'm not buying it," Graham, a South Carolina Republican, told CNN about Mattis' criticism. "And he jumped into politics -- Gen. Mattis did. And I think he's missing a lot about what's going on in America politically."

Graham, though, still questioned the need for Trump to hold the Monday photo-op in front of the church while holding up the Bible. The White House argued Trump was showing strength after a fire was set on the property the night before.

"I never understood," Graham said about the Monday event. "Going over to visit church is fine. But waving the Bible -- I don't know what that was all about."

Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, who was critical of the Monday event after it occurred and then was singled out by Trump on Twitter, seemed to temper his criticism on Thursday, saying "the longer we go on, the more questions there are on how it started out." Lankford said that it could have been "reasonable" to use force if the protesters were being violent, citing statements made by the US Park Police, especially since violence occurred the night before.

"We don't know yet," Lankford said when asked if force against protesters could have been justified Monday evening. "So let's get the facts out on it."

Asked about the criticism from Mattis that Trump is purposefully dividing the country, Lankford said: "What's interesting is when I go back 10 years, that was the same criticism I was hearing about President [Barack] Obama at this time -- that they were saying he was dividing the country."

Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, also urged the President to "ignore the criticism in politics" when asked about the Mattis comments.

"I don't know that him saying this is especially helpful to the various crises that we're going through right now," Kennedy told reporters Thursday when asked about the former defense secretary. "But if he feels the need to express himself he can."