Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Sunday that he regularly had to swat down dangerous ideas while he served under former President Donald Trump , including military action against Venezuela, strikes in Iran and a potential blockade of Cuba.
In an interview with 60 Minutes, Esper said he felt like he and other military leaders in the White House had to frequently prevent calamity.
Its important to our country, its 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, Esper said. And to tell the story about things we prevented. Really bad things. Dangerous things that could have taken the country in a dark direction.
These ideas would happen, it seemed, every few weeks, he added. Something like this would come up and wed have to swat em down.
In his new memoir, \"A Sacred Oath,\" former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper writes that he had to press President Trump to send aid to Ukraine, and also walked the president back from ideas such as shooting protesters and missile strikes in Mexico. https://t.co/TZC1PvcbRP
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Trump","slug":"donald-trump","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/donald-trump","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/donald-trump","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/donald-trump"},"department":{"name":"Latest News","slug":"politics-news"},"section":{"title":"Politics","slug":"politics"},"topic":{"title":"Donald Trump","slug":"donald-trump","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/news/topic/donald-trump"},{"name":"60 Minutes","slug":"60-minutes","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/60-minutes","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/60-minutes","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/60-minutes"},"department":{"name":"Latest News","slug":"politics-news"},"section":{"title":"Media","slug":"media"},"topic":{"title":"60 Minutes","slug":"60-minutes","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/news/topic/60-minutes"},{"name":"Mark Esper","slug":"mark-esper","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/mark-esper","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/mark-esper","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/mark-esper"},"url":"https://action.news/topic/mark-esper"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["\r\n\r\n","\r\n\r\n","\r\n\r\n"],"adCount":0},"isCollectionEmbed":false}">In his new memoir, "A Sacred Oath," former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper writes that he had to press President Trump to send aid to Ukraine, and also walked the president back from ideas such as shooting protesters and missile strikes in Mexico. https://t.co/TZC1PvcbRP
60 Minutes (@60Minutes) May 9, 2022
Esper is the latest member of Trumps inner circle to document the presidents final days in office, saying Trump was obsessed with reelection and emboldened after being acquitted in his first impeachment trial. Trump fired Esper in November 2020, shortly after he lost the presidential election to Joe Biden .
Espers latest claims about his tenure in the White House are part of a press tour ahead of the Tuesday release of his memoir, A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times.
In one instance, Esper recounted a moment when Trump asked if the U.S. could secretly fire missiles into Mexico to destroy drug labs run by cartels and then lie about it. According to Axios, Esper also claimed that Trump asked the nations top military officials if they could order troops to shoot racial justice protesters who took to the streets after the police killing of George Floyd.
Trump rejected those assertions in a statement to 60 Minutes, saying Esper was weak and totally ineffective and a stiff who was desperate not to lose his job.
He would do anything I wanted, thats why I called him Yesper, Trump said. He was a lightweight and figurehead and I realized it very early on.
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When asked for comment on this interview, the office of former President Donald Trump provided the following statement to 60 Minutes. https://t.co/QBrwHL2cR2 pic.twitter.com/MZUCrfxgha
60 Minutes (@60Minutes) May 8, 2022","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"60 Minutes","author_url":"https://twitter.com/60Minutes","cache_age":86400,"description":"When asked for comment on this interview, the office of former President Donald Trump provided the following statement to 60 Minutes. https://t.co/QBrwHL2cR2 pic.twitter.com/MZUCrfxgha 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) May 8, 2022\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","thumbnail_height":792,"thumbnail_url":"https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FSRaiZFXoAMeuHA.jpg:large","thumbnail_width":574,"title":"60 Minutes on 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Trump","slug":"donald-trump","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/donald-trump","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/donald-trump","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/donald-trump"},"department":{"name":"Latest News","slug":"politics-news"},"section":{"title":"Politics","slug":"politics"},"topic":{"title":"Donald Trump","slug":"donald-trump","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/news/topic/donald-trump"},{"name":"60 Minutes","slug":"60-minutes","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/60-minutes","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/60-minutes","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/60-minutes"},"department":{"name":"Latest News","slug":"politics-news"},"section":{"title":"Media","slug":"media"},"topic":{"title":"60 Minutes","slug":"60-minutes","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/news/topic/60-minutes"},{"name":"Mark Esper","slug":"mark-esper","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/mark-esper","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/mark-esper","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/mark-esper"},"url":"https://action.news/topic/mark-esper"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["\r\n\r\n","\r\n\r\n","\r\n\r\n"],"adCount":0},"isCollectionEmbed":false}">When asked for comment on this interview, the office of former President Donald Trump provided the following statement to 60 Minutes. https://t.co/QBrwHL2cR2 pic.twitter.com/MZUCrfxgha
60 Minutes (@60Minutes) May 8, 2022
Espers book has been through the Pentagons standard security clearance screening prior to publication.
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