Trump reportedly considering replacing Defense Secretary Esper after election
U.S. 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, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing a source familiar with the internal debate.
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.
The source acknowledged the Confederate flag issue was another source of tension.