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Former US Defense Secretary Mark Esper made more revelations regarding his time under the administration of Donald Trump. In a recent interview, Esper revealed that he and other officials have had to push back against the occasional proposals of international conflict coming from the Trump White House.
In an interview on “60 Minutes,” Esper explained that he and other officials would be given proposals of potential international conflict from the Trump White House that would force them to push back. Esper described the proposals as “crazy” and would happen every few weeks.
“At various times during – certainly the last year of the administration, you know, folks in the White House are proposing to take military action against Venezuela. To strike Iran. At one point, somebody proposed we blockade Cuba,” said Esper. “These ideas would happen – it seemed every few weeks. Something like this would come up and we’d have to swat ‘em down.”
The former Pentagon chief cited one conversation with Trump, with the now-former president proposing to bomb drug cartels. Trump claimed that “no one would know it was us.”
Esper shared that this instance of having to push back against Trump was what compelled him to write a book about his time under the Trump administration, knowing that there would be someone who could verify the events.
The former Defense Secretary did not come forward with the revelations even after he was fired and during the Senate’s discussion of impeachment. Trump was impeached for the second time following the January 6 riots at the Capitol.
Another revelation that Esper made was related to the widespread Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd. Speaking on “Anderson Cooper 360” Monday, Esper shared how “dumbstruck” he was with Trump’s suggestion of opening fire on protesters in Washington DC.
“I was just dumbstruck by it,” said Esper. “And he was speaking to General Mark Milley when he asked that, can’t you just shoot them in the legs or something? I was shocked by it. To hear this from the president of the United States, saying shoot our fellow Americans in the streets of our nation’s capital.”
