12/22/2022

INVESTIGATIONS: “Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper testified that he and others had to dissuade then-President Donald Trump from using active-duty military troops to quell the racial protests breaking out in the summer of 2020. Trump was upset about the civil unrest around the country in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota, […]

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5/8/2022

TRUMP PEOPLE: “Trump called [Mark] Esper’s claims [in his new book about being Defense Secretary under Trump] a ‘complete lie’ in a statement to 60 Minutes, saying that 10 witnesses would back him up. ‘Mark Esper was weak and totally ineffective, and because of it, I had to run the military. I took out ISIS, […]

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5/5/2022

MEXICO/PROTESTS/TRUMP PEOPLE: “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 […]

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11/10/2020

BIDEN TRANSITION/DEFENSE/TRUMP ADMIN: “Several loyalists to President Donald Trump were promoted to top roles in the Defense Department on Tuesday after officials resigned following the unceremonious ouster of Defense Secretary Mark Esper… Trump announced Monday that he had fired Esper as defense secretary and said Christopher Miller, who headed the counterterrorism center, would serve as […]

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11/9/2020

DEFENSE/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Monday [Nov. 9, 2020] became the first high-profile Cabinet member fired by President Trump in what is expected to be a purge of security officials following the election of former Vice President Joe Biden… Esper drew Trump’s ire after implicitly criticizing the president’s threat to use active-duty troops […]

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11/9/2020

DEFENSE/SENATE: “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.. …Chris will do a GREAT job! Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service.“ ––Donald Trump, Twitter.com, […]

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8/5/2020

LEBANON/MILITARY: “Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Wednesday that most people think the deadly explosion Tuesday in Lebanon that killed at least 100 people was an accident, contradicting President Donald Trump, who said American generals told him it was likely caused by a bomb. Esper said the U.S. was still gathering information about the explosion, but […]

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