Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper writes in his forthcoming memoir that former President Trump suggested shooting Black Lives Matter protesters who filled the streets around the White House after the death of George Floyd.
“Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” Trump asked, according to an excerpt of the new book, A Sacred Oath, published by Axios.
The former defense secretary describes the moment Trump made the suggestion in June 2020, writing that it “was surreal, sitting in front of the Resolute desk, inside the Oval Office, with this idea weighing heavily in the air, and the president red faced and complaining loudly about the protests under way in Washington, D.C.”
“The good news — this wasn’t a difficult decision,” Esper adds in the book, which comes out May 10. “The bad news — I had to figure out a way to walk Trump back without creating the mess I was trying to avoid.”
At the time, Esper publicly came out against invoking the Insurrection Act to allow the president to use active-duty troops to rein in the riots that broke out in the wake of Floyd’s murder by then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
Trump eventually fired Esper in the wake of the 2020 election.
The book had to undergo a security review by nearly three dozen 4-star generals, senior civilians, and some Cabinet members, according to Axios. Some of the officials confirmed what Esper claims to have witnessed. Esper sued the Pentagon in November, accusing officials of “censoring” his First Amendment rights by redacting parts of the book.
Esper’s memoir confirms reporting by political correspondent Michael Bender, who reported last year in his book, Frankly, We Did Win This Election, that Trump repeatedly suggested law enforcement should shoot protesters.
Bender’s book said General Mark Milley, the top U.S. military leader, pushed back against Trump requesting that the military “crack skulls” and “beat the f*** out” of protesters.
“Just shoot them,” Trump said, according to Bender’s book.