Trump was told to fire Defense Secretary for his opposition to committing war crimes, the transgender ban, violating federal law, and focusing on Russia.
ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl has just released a copy of a memo written by Trump White House Director of the Presidential Personnel Office, Johnny McEntee (photo) urging the firing of then-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.
McEntee, a Trump devotee, previously had served as only Trump’s “body man,” before being fired for for reasons related to national security, before being re-hired to run an office he was totally unqualified to oversee. firing the head of the nation’s Armed Forces.
The reasons McEntee – who was subpoeaned by the Jan. 6 Committee Tuesday – gave in his memo supporting his urging of firing Esper are stunning – and almost entirely political.
Karl, who is previewing his new book, “Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show,” on Wednesday posted the memo to Twitter.
It begins by claiming Esper “Consistently breaks from POTUS’ direction, and has failed to see through his priorities,” but quickly devolves into political issues, including:
Approved the promotion of Lt. Col. Vindman, the start [sic] witness in the
sham impeachment inquiry, who told Congress that the President’s
call with Ukraine “undermined U.S. national security.”
McEntee trashed Esper for publicly opposing “the President’s direction to utilize American forces to put down riots just outside the White House in the nation’s capital.”
Utilizing U.S. forces against U.S. citizens inside the U.S. has been called illegal in most instances.
“The law generally prevents the president from using the military as a domestic police force,” The Brennan Center for Justice says.
McEntee offered other reasons, including that Esper “Issued a policy that bars the display of the Confederate flag on military installation, after the President supported such displays as freedom of speech.”
He also listed Esper’s opposition to “the Soleimani strike, and subsequently stated he would ‘rule out’
military attacks on cultural sites in Iran if the conflict escalated, despite the President wanting to keep that option open.”
It is a war crime to attack cultural sites. The New York Times called it “illegal” and “barbaric.”
McEntee also decried Esper for having “focused the Department on Russia,” which Trump spent four years largely protecting.
McEntee also criticized Esper for having “been actively pushing for ‘diversity and inclusion,'” and “Expressed disinterest in supporting the President’s transgender ban. Did not show support for President’s decision to issue Directive-type Memorandum- 19-004 (the military trans-ban). He stated the issue ‘really hasn’t come up’ and had found the Perspectives of ‘six or seven’ active-duty transgender soldiers’ perspectives ‘helpful’ as he thought through the issue.”
Read the entire memo here:
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Trump’s New Personnel Chief Orders ‘Purge’ of All Never-Trumpers From Federal Agencies: Report