Tag Archives: Mark Esper

Politico reports: Mark Esper, who served as secretary of Defense under Donald Trump, backed former colleague John Kelly’s recent remarks that he believes Trump meets the definition of a fascist. Esper told CNN Wednesday that he has no reason to doubt Kelly’s “honesty or integrity” in relaying Trump’s previous comments. He encouraged the audience to look up the definition of …

The Hill reports: Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who served in the Trump administration, said Monday the public should take former President Trump “seriously” when he suggests using the military against American citizens. “Yes I do, of course,” Esper told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source” when asked whether he fears Trump would “try to utilize the National Guard, …

The Daily Beast reports: Donald Trump’s former Secretary of Defense revealed on Friday that he will not be voting for his former boss who announced he had fired him in a tweet. On Friday’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, the host asked Mark Esper whether he would be voting for Joe Biden in the 2024 election. “There’s no …

“I think it’s a legitimate fear. If you’ll recall from my memoir that you mentioned at the top, I cite a circumstance where the president, egged on by his close advisers, wanted to call back to active duty Admiral McRaven and General McChrystal to court martial them for some things that they allegedly said in the public domain, and Milley …

“It’s stunning to hear it. It sounds familiar in some ways. I talk a lot about these instances in my memoir, where I categorize how every few months or so we would come back to this issue about Iran and what to do. I can say Mark Milley worked for me for nearly 18 months, which was most of Trump’s …

“It’s just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, places our nation’s securities at risk. You cannot have these documents floating around. They need to be secured. We know how that happens. Only authorized persons that are allowed to receive documents or receive information from documents. So we’ve got to take this very seriously. These are serious issues.” …

The Daily Caller reports: Then-first lady Melania Trump sat in one of the Situation Room’s most important chairs during the killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and offered former President Donald Trump advice after the attack, former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller reveals in his new book. Melania Trump’s presence in the Situation Room was “unexpected,” and she entered …

Talking Points Memo reports: According to a copy of ex-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper’s memoir, A Sacred Oath, obtained by TPM, Trump demanded that former Gen. Stan McChrystal and former Navy Admiral William H. McRaven be recalled into active duty so that they could be court-martialed for criticizing the President. “So disloyal,” the book recounts Trump complaining to Esper and …

“The individual motivations for the leaks ranged from advancing a preferred policy outcome to enhancing the leaker’s own role or credentials to currying favor with the president. “It was a noxious behavior learned from the top. The president was the biggest leaker of all. “It turned colleague against colleague, department against department, and it was generally bad for the administration …

Mediaite reports: According to a transcript of the interview provided by CBS, Esper told correspondent Norah O’Donnell, “it’s important to our country, it’s important to the republic, the American people, that they understand what was going on in this very consequential period — the last year of the Trump administration.” “And to tell the story about things we prevented: really …

The Hill reports: Former President Trump called his former defense secretary a “lightweight” and a “RINO” in response to a “60 Minutes” interview that covered a series of shocking claims about the former commander-in-chief. “Mark Esper was weak and totally ineffective and because of it, I had to run the military,” said the statement from Trump to 60 Minutes. “Mark …

The New York Times reports: President Donald J. Trump in 2020 asked Mark T. Esper, his defense secretary, about the possibility of launching missiles into Mexico to “destroy the drug labs” and wipe out the cartels, maintaining that the United States’ involvement in a strike against its southern neighbor could be kept secret, Mr. Esper recounts in his upcoming memoir. …

CBS News reports: Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper says he personally killed a “ridiculous” plan from White House adviser Stephen Miller to deploy 250,000 troops to the southern border as a migrant caravan approached. Esper, who writes about the moment in his upcoming book, “A Sacred Oath,” says he initially thought Miller was joking when he asked for the troops …

Axios reports: Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper charges in a memoir out May 10 that former President Trump said when demonstrators were filling the streets around the White House following the death of George Floyd: “Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” The book, “A Sacred Oath,” contains vivid, first-person revelations by a top …

The New York Times reports: Former Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper on Sunday sued the agency he once led, accusing officials at the Pentagon of improperly blocking significant portions of an upcoming memoir about his tumultuous tenure under President Donald J. Trump. The allegations by Mr. Esper, whom Mr. Trump fired shortly after losing his re-election bid last November, are …

The New York Times reports: In the spring of 2020, Mark T. Esper, the defense secretary, was alarmed to learn of an idea under discussion at a top military command and at the Department of Homeland Security to send as many as 250,000 troops — more than half the active U.S. Army, and a sixth of all American forces — …

The New York Times reports: For then-Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the tricky part was that both of the accomplished officers were women. Mr. Esper and General Milley worried that if they even raised their names — Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost of the Air Force and …

CNBC reports: In a tweet Monday afternoon, President Donald Trump said he terminated his Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. “I am pleased to announce that Christopher C. Miller, the highly respected Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (unanimously confirmed by the Senate), will be Acting Secretary of Defense, effective immediately,” Trump wrote. The latest revelation comes as Trump refuses to …

NBC News reports: Defense Secretary Mark Esper has prepared a letter of resignation, according to three current defense officials. It’s not uncommon for Cabinet secretaries to prepare undated letters of resignation during a presidential transition, giving the commander in chief the chance to replace them for a second term. The president decides whether to accept the resignation letters, and the …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump has long been unhappy with Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and White House officials have talked to Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie about taking the top Pentagon job should Trump decide to fire Esper, three senior administration officials said. Two senior administration officials said Trump discussed the position directly with Wilkie at the White House …