He wrote in his book, according to Axios, that the first week of June 2020 “was surreal, sitting in front of the Resolute desk, inside the Oval Office, with this idea weighing heavily in the air, and the President red-faced and complaining loudly about the protests underway in Washington, D.C.”
“The good news — this wasn’t a difficult decision,” Esper said regarding Trump’s idea to shoot protesters. “The bad news — I had to figure out a way to walk Trump back without creating the mess I was trying to avoid.”
The then-President’s suggestion to curb rioting in the city came as protesters filled the streets around the White House just a few months after COVID-19 shook the nation and civil rights riots broke out in major cities after Floyd’s death.
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Esper riled Trump in June 2020 by publicly stating he opposed trying to stop the protests by invoking the Insurrection Act, which is an 1807 law that permits the President to use active-duty troops on U.S. soil.
His new memoir, A Sacred Oath, will be published on May 10.
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The former Cabinet member’s book asserts many outside reports of extreme internal dysfunction in Trump’s White House.
From 2017 to 2019, Esper was Secretary of the Army and was brought on to head the Pentagon in July 2019 – after former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis resigned over conflicts with the President on how to deal with hazards from Russia and China.
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Esper only served as Defense secretary for one year and four months before he was fired by Trump shortly after the 2020 election.
Journalist Michael Bender’s book published last year, Frankly, We Did Win This Election, ensures that during heated Oval Office meetings, Trump repeatedly called for law enforcement to shoot protesters.
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Protests and riots broke out in the summer of 2020 after a video of Floyd’s death emerged when police officer Derek Chauvin held his knee on the back of his neck for minutes during an arrest.
New York City, Minneapolis, the District of Columbia, and other U.S. cities saw dangerous riots when BLM rioters took the streets – looting, burning, and rioting against law enforcement.
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On June 1, 2020, Trump had his team clear out Lafayette Square outside the North Lawn of the White House to walk across the street with his Cabinet for a photo op in front of St. John’s Church, which had burn damage from rioters.