Today, President Trump has announced that he has terminated Mark Esper, the Secretary of Defense for the United States of America. This takes effect immediately. In Esper's place is now Christopher C. Miller, the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center; he will be the new Acting Secretary of Defense. President Trump made the announcement in the form of a couple tweets:
It is no secret that President Trump and Mark Esper had a rocky relationship. It is not surprising that Esper has been terminated, but it is surprising that it occurred so quickly after the election. Back in the summertime when the country had widespread social justice protests, President Trump wanted to bring in active duty troops to quell various demonstrations and Mark Esper held a press conference at the Pentagon completely disagreeing with President Trump's request to deploy troops. At the time Esper said this about deploying troops onto the streets to quell demonstrations: "I say this not only as secretary of Defense, but also as a former soldier and a former member of the National Guard, the option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort, and only in the most urgent and dire situations. We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act." This opposition angered President Trump and from that point forward Trump wanted to get rid of Esper.
Some Democrats such as Sen. Amy Klobuchar, are NOT happy about this decision by President Trump, even taking to twitter to express their opposition:
More background on the new Acting Secretary of Defense, Christopher C. Miller:
- Spent 31 years in the military
- Back in August 2020, was sworn in as Director for the National Counterterrorism Center
- Served as policy official at the National Security Council
-Producer Lightning