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Tribune News Service
Tribune News Service
National
Dave Goldiner

Trump slams former Pentagon chief Mark Esper, doesn’t deny allegations in book

Former President Donald Trump hit back at Mark Esper, his onetime secretary of defense, as a “lightweight” and Republican in name only but did not deny bombshell allegations that he wanted to shoot racial justice protesters or fire missiles at drug targets in Mexico.

The ex-president accused Esper of keeping quiet about Trump’s more outlandish suggestions because he was an eager-to-please rubber stamp.

“Mark Esper was a stiff who was desperate not to lose his job. He would do anything I wanted, that’s why I called him ‘Yesper,’” Trump said in a statement to CBS News, which aired an interview Sunday with Esper on “60 Minutes.”

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