KID SCHOOLS MEDIA
High-schooler lands Defense chief interview
Eat your heart out, Megyn Kelly! A sharp-eyed high-school reporter from Washington state scored an exclusive with Defense Secretary James “Mad Dog” Mattis — by spotting his personal cellphone number in a newspaper photo and shooting him a text.
“Is it possible for you to conduct an interview?” Mercer Island HS sophomore Teddy Fischer wrote to Mattis.
“By the way your personal number was leaked to the American public, have a wonderful day!”
Using his wits and thumbs, Fischer snagged a 45-minute phone interview for his school paper, the Islander, after one of his friends encouraged him to reach out to Mattis (inset).
“The only thing more bizarre than getting the private cell number of United States Defense Secretary James Mattis through a leak is having him call you back,” the article read.
Fischer stumbled upon the number in The Washington Post on May 11, in a photo showing President Trump’s security guard, Keith Schiller, carrying a stack of papers with a sticky note that had it alongside Mattis’ name.
Like a pro, the enterprising young reporter, who has an interest in foreign policy, jotted down Mattis’ number before it was scrubbed from the Post’s Web site.
“This whole thing is just a miracle after miracle,” Fischer told Seattle’s NBC affiliate, King 5.
“I called it to see if it was him because I was curious, and it was his voice,” Fischer added.
Instead of leaving a voice message, Fischer sent Mattis the text, asking him for an interview on US foreign policy.
Mattis, himself a Washington native, later recalled how it was Fischer’s ties to the state that stood out, leading him to agree to the chat.
The resulting interview wound up being a thoughtful article on several topics, ranging from for- eign policy to national politics. Mattis even had some advice for graduating high-school seniors.
“If you can help the larger community in the world, you won’t be lying on a psychiatrist’s couch when you’re 45 years old wondering what you did with your life,” he said.
At one point, Mattis appeared to take a different stance on political opponents than what we’ve heard out of Washington lately.
“I don’t care for ideological people. It’s like those people just want to stop thinking,” the Pentagon chief said. “They know what they think. They don’t read anything but one newspaper that agrees with them or they watch only one television news show because it reinforces them, instead of listening to the ones that don’t agree with them.”