WASHINGTON, December 2. /TASS/. US President-elect Donald Trump confirmed media reports that he would nominate retired Marine Gen. James Mattis as his secretary of defense.

"We are going to announce Maddog Mattis on Monday,"But we are not announcing it until Monday, so don't tell anyone."

Trump made the announcement at a rally Thursday night in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Mattis, who retired 2013 after leading the military’s Central Command, will have to bypass a federal law stating that defense secretaries must not have been on active duty in the previous seven years.