Washington (CNN) Defense Secretary James Mattis decided Thursday that the best way to break the ice during his first ever meeting with President Donald Trump's new national security adviser John Bolton was with a joke. "I heard you're actually the devil incarnate and I wanted to meet you," Mattis said in an off-microphone exchange that was captured upon Bolton's arrival at the Pentagon. Bolton laughed and the two men entered the building. In the days following Trump's decision to name Bolton as the replacement for outgoing national security adviser H.R. Speaking publicly for the first time about the move to name Bolton, Mattis said Tuesday that he looked forward to working with the former UN ambassador and that he hoped the two men held "different world views" to avoid "group think."

Source: CNN March 29, 2018 18:33 UTC