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"Well, I do not know," Trump told the question whether the Pentagon leader would leave in an interview for "60 minutes" of CBS. "He did not say that to me."
Trump said the two had "a great relationship," but he let Mattis go.
"I think he's sort of a democrat, if you want to know the truth," Trump said in an interview intended to be broadcast Sunday night. "But General Mattis is a good guy, we get on very well together, he can leave, I mean, at some point everyone is leaving, everybody, people are leaving, that's Washington."
Army Colonel Robert Manning, a Pentagon spokesman, issued a statement in response to the president's remarks.
"Secretary Mattis is focused on the laser to do his job – ensuring that the US military remains the most lethal force on the planet," reads the statement.
In his last years as Commander of Central Command, Mattis disagreed with the Obama administration on his policy towards Iran, with the Navy general taking a stance harder with regard to the pursuit of an action against Iran than the White House wanted.
Mattis left the Central Command and retired from the Army in 2013. A source close to Mattis had previously told CNN that he was rejecting Hillary Clinton's campaign openings aimed at working in this administration if it had prevailed.
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