After Trump introduced him, Mattis thanked the audience and Trump in brief remarks sandwiched in between comments from the President-elect.
"Thank you President-elect for the confidence that you've shown in me ... I look forward to being the civilian leader so long as the Congress gives me the waiver and the Senate votes to content."
"What a great guy, he's going to incredible," Trump said after Mattis stepped off stage. Mattis will need Congress to pass a waiver in order to comply with rules regarding leading the Department of Defense.
"He'll get that waiver, right?" Trump said. "Oh, if he didn't get that waiver there are going to be a lot of angry people."