Pentagon Chief Refutes Trump’s Plans Of Deploying The Military To Bring Protests Under Control

Even as President Donald Trump is rather eager to deploy the military to control the protests triggered by George Floyd’s death on May 25, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has publicly distanced himself from his opinions, clearly stating that he does not support the idea. And as expected, this step by Esper hasn’t made his already precarious situation in the White House any better.

Earlier, after the police authorities had been finding it difficult to quell the nationwide protests, Trump had announced that he will “take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents". He had shared his plans of invoking the Insurrection Act, which is an 1807 law allowing the president to deploy the military in situations like civil disorder.

But Secretary of Defense Mark Esper doesn’t agree with the use of active-duty troops in the protests and remarked that they should be treated as a last resort while speaking from the Pentagon briefing room podium. He added that as "we are not in one of those situations now," 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 of situations.”

“I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act," he told reporters.

Evidently, him distancing himself from Trump’s ideologies didn’t sit well with the White House. While, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany did not directly spell out whether Trump still has confidence in Esper, "as of right now Secretary Esper is still Secretary Esper."

"With regard to whether the President has confidence, I would say if he loses confidence in Secretary Esper, I'm sure you all will be the first to know," McEnany said. "Should the President lose faith, we will all learn about that in the future.”

But as a senior Republican source told CNN, Trump has no confidence or respect for his defense chief, who basically follows Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s lead. The source added that these latest claims by Esper will only make things worse for him.