Pentagon-Trump clash breaks open over military and protests


Both Trump and Defense Secretary Mark Esper also drew stinging, rare public criticism from Trump's first defense secretary, Jim Mattis, in the most public pushback of Trump's presidency from the men he put at the helm of the world's most powerful military.

Mattis' rebuke followed Trump's threats to use the military to "dominate" the streets where Americans are demonstrating following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died when a white police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes. The president had urged governors to call out the National Guard to contain protests that turned violent and warned that he could send in active duty military forces if they did not.

Esper angered Trump early Wednesday when he said he opposed using military troops for law enforcement, seemingly taking the teeth out of the president's threat to use the Insurrection Act. Esper said the 1807 law should be invoked in the United States "only in the most urgent and dire of situations." He added, "We are not in one of those situations now."



"We must reject any thinking of our cities as a 'battlespace' that our uniformed military is called upon to 'dominate,'" Mattis wrote, referencing quotes by Esper and Trump respectively. "Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict — a false conflict — between the military and civilian society. "

Trump responded on Twitter by calling Mattis "the world's most overrated General," adding: "I didn't like his 'leadership' style or much else about him, and many others agree, Glad he is gone!"


Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told The Associated Press that the decision was reversed after Esper's visit to the White House. The White House didn't respond to request for comment on whether Trump ordered the change.

Esper: Don't support using Insurrection Act

The shift added to confusion over the president's threat to invoke the Insurrection Act for protests following Floyd's death in Minneapolis. White House officials had indicated even before Esper's comments that Trump was backing away from invoking the act, though officials said Trump was upset that Esper's statement conveyed "weakness."

Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the president was still willing to deploy federal troops despite Esper's comments.

"If needed, he will use it," she told reporters. "But at this time he's relying on surging the streets with National Guard. It's worked with great effect."

Meanwhile, the president was taking credit for the deployment of federal and other law enforcement officers to the nation's capital, saying it offered a model to states on how to stop violence accompanying some protests nationwide.




"You have to have a dominant force," Trump told Fox News Radio on Wednesday. "We need law and order."

Asked repeatedly if Trump still had confidence in his Pentagon chief, McEnany said, "As of right now, Secretary Esper is still Secretary Esper, and should the president lose faith we will all learn about that in the future."

Esper, in his Pentagon remarks, also strongly criticized the actions of the Minneapolis police for the incident last week that ignited the protests. He called the death of Floyd "murder" and "a horrible crime."

The defense secretary himself has come under fire from critics, including retired senior military officers, for having walked from the White House on Monday evening with Trump and others for a presidential photo opportunity in front of St. John's Episcopal Church, which had previously sustained damage from protesters.

Esper said that while he was aware they were heading to St. John's, he did not know what would happen there.

"I was not aware a photo op was happening," he said, adding that he also did not know that police had forcibly moved peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square to clear the way for Trump and his entourage.

Mattis, in his essay, called the scene an "abuse of executive authority." The retired general quit the Trump administration in December 2018 after months of conflict with the president as Trump announced he was unilaterally withdrawing American troops from Syria.

The White House laid responsibility for Monday's events in Lafayette Park on Attorney General William Barr, saying he gave the order for law enforcement to clear out the protest before Trump's walk to the church ahead of Washington's 7 p.m. curfew. McEnany said the decision was made earlier Monday but had not been executed by the time Barr arrived in the park to survey the scene. He gave the order at that time.


Trump put a political spin on his criticism of states that have seen violence. He said: "You notice that all of these places that have problems, they're not run by Republicans. They're run by liberal Democrats."








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