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Trump privately discussing replacing Defense Secretary Esper after election [View all]
Source: Reuters
POLITICS AUGUST 12, 2020 / 3:16 PM / UPDATED 6 HOURS AGO
Trump privately discussing replacing Defense Secretary Esper after election
Steve Holland, Phil Stewart
3 MIN READ
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has privately discussed with advisers the possibility of replacing Defense Secretary Mark Esper after the November election following a growing number of differences between them, a source familiar with the internal debate said on Wednesday.
The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two men were “not in a good place” but that Trump did not intend to move on Esper until voters have rendered their judgment on a second Trump term on Nov. 3.
Esper, a former Army secretary, is respected by Republicans and Democrats as a steady hand at the Pentagon during a turbulent administration that has seen Trump repeatedly draw the military into hot-button domestic political issues, including the border wall with Mexico.
But Trump was troubled by Esper’s opposition to invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy active-duty forces to quell civil unrest that broke out in June after the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was in police custody in Minneapolis.
Esper also appeared to publicly split with Trump last month by issuing a de facto ban on the Confederate flag at military installations, at a time when Trump was citing free speech rights in his defense of Americans who fly the Confederate flag.
-snip-
Trump privately discussing replacing Defense Secretary Esper after election
Steve Holland, Phil Stewart
3 MIN READ
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has privately discussed with advisers the possibility of replacing Defense Secretary Mark Esper after the November election following a growing number of differences between them, a source familiar with the internal debate said on Wednesday.
The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two men were “not in a good place” but that Trump did not intend to move on Esper until voters have rendered their judgment on a second Trump term on Nov. 3.
Esper, a former Army secretary, is respected by Republicans and Democrats as a steady hand at the Pentagon during a turbulent administration that has seen Trump repeatedly draw the military into hot-button domestic political issues, including the border wall with Mexico.
But Trump was troubled by Esper’s opposition to invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy active-duty forces to quell civil unrest that broke out in June after the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was in police custody in Minneapolis.
Esper also appeared to publicly split with Trump last month by issuing a de facto ban on the Confederate flag at military installations, at a time when Trump was citing free speech rights in his defense of Americans who fly the Confederate flag.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-esper/trump-privately-discussing-replacing-defense-secretary-esper-after-election-idUSKCN2582ML
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