Flanked by Secretary of Defense Mark Esper (L) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Army Gen. Mark Milley, U.S. President Donald Trump meets with senior military leaders at the White House in Washington, U.S., October 7, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
NBC News: Long at odds with Trump, Defense Secretary Esper has prepared a resignation letter, say officials
Esper also plans to help Congress draft legislation to strip military bases of Confederate names, which could further alienate him from Trump.
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Mark Esper has prepared a letter of resignation, according to three current defense officials.
It's not uncommon for Cabinet secretaries to prepare undated letters of resignation during a presidential transition, giving the commander in chief the chance to replace them for a second term. The president decides whether to accept the resignation letters, and the process usually occurs after the election results are clear.
But defense officials say Esper prepared his letter because he is one of the Cabinet officials long expected to be pushed out after the election.
As his tenure may be coming to an end, Esper is helping members of Congress draft legislation that will strip names of Confederate leaders from military bases in a move that could put him further at odds with President Donald Trump.
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WNU Editor: It is never good to see the Pentagon break with the President on an issue that can easily be taken care of in the next administration. This is personal for Mark Esper. By leaking this to NBC (my gut is telling me that he is the leak and not three unnamed defense officials), he is goading the President to fire him right now.
5 comments:
Trump's too much of a sad bitch right now to do anything. That press conference was pathetic.
What did G2 do? G2 should be aware enough to catch on to some of what the CIA does. Or they can look at news reports and figure, if it adds up. The military is suppose to be against all enemies foreign and domestic. A coup attempt is a domestic enemy. Brennan engaged in a coup. I don't expect the DoD to arrest Brennan, but I do expect them to present evidence to a prosecutor.
8:13 is the type of person to complain about American military overseas and then turn around and complain about trump bucking the Deep state and trying to disentangle the US from various undeclared wars.
Really a sad fucking bitch
8:13 a troll or a liberal bitcher?
You decide.
Trump hasn't disentangled anything. US ground forces are still strung throughout MENA and Afghanistan.
Hell, America still has ground forces sitting on Syrian oil wells in Syria. And that's all thanks to the alleged disentangler.
But yes please enlighten us about his noble attempts to remove America from these awful places. If only he had a second term; then all problems would be solved!
This is Esper's audition to be a paid contributor for Fake News. What a despicable slug.
Editor,
Your comment is spot on. This particular legislation could easily be taken up in the next session, it has no bearing on military readiness, and it would have the overwhelming support of the American people hence there's no reason to rush it through now while we still can.
Trump is still POTUS until a new one is sworn in. Such blatant insubordination sets a very bad precedent. If the roles were reversed here, I'm sure Mr. Esper would face withering criticism from all sides. If he can't in due conscience, do his job, then resign. As to what POTUS will do, I do not "know." I suspect he will do nothing right now. After all this bill contributes nothing to military readiness. After the election is over and assuming Trump loses he'll probably stay on as long as Trump thinks he's competent in his role as Secretary of Defense. Should Trump win he probably still stays on until the start of the next term.
Such pettiness seems especially unwarranted when considered that Trump still has a real path to victory. While the odds would seem to be in Biden's favor, Trump's chances are enough that it would seem unwise to "burn that bridge" in such a petty manner as this.
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