@diehardbrownsfan said:

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."

And we both hope that he is correct for the sake of our country.

"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."