Former President Donald Trump denied most — but not all — of the eye-popping claims Mark Esper, his ex-defense secretary, made about him during a Sunday appearance on CBS’ “60 Minutes.”
WHAT HE SAID
Trump forcefully rejected Esper’s recollections, on air and in a new tell-all book, that in 2020 the then-president wanted to respond to Black Lives Matter protests by shooting some of the activists in the legs and sending 10,000 active duty troops into Washington, D.C.
In a statement Sunday, Trump called those allegations “a complete lie” and “Wrong,” respectively.
- He dismissed another of Esper’s charges as “Fake news” and said, “I fired Yesper because he was a RINO incapable of leading, and I had to run the military myself.”
- “Yesper” is Trump’s nickname for Esper, and “RINO” stands for “Republican in name only.”
By contrast, Trump was noncommittalabout Esper’s claim that the former president repeatedly suggested they shoot Patriot missiles into Mexico to blow up drug labs run by the cartels.
- “No comment,” Trump said of the matter.
