WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump asked his defense secretary to explain whether seals and Navy SEALs were the same thing during a recent national security briefing, sources confirmed today.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at one point had to mime a special operator raising a rifle while rising out of the water in contrast to a picture of a lovable marine mammal that lives in the ocean, officials said. The president's question about the differences between SEALs and seals came just days after he reportedly asked Microsoft founder Bill Gates whether HPV and HIV were the same.