Folashade Kehinde with Agency Report
SACKED United States Defence Secretary, Mark Esper, has said he is proud of his record of standing up to President Donald Trump and preserving his “integrity” amid a tense relationship with the White House.
Esper, who was fired by Trump on Monday, was quoted to have said this in an interview with the Military Times.
The interview, conducted on November 4, was released minutes after Esper was abruptly fired by Trump via Twitter.
The President had said he would install National Counterterrorism Center Director Christopher Miller as acting defenCe Secretary.
Esper, who had clashed with Trump on key issues over the past 18 months, said that virtually no other member of the Trump administration could match his record of standing up to the Commander in Chief.
He said he tried to implement key policies such as the administration’s National Defence Strategy (NDS) despite conflict with the President, Washington Times reports.
“I guess my top line is, as I look back … despite a series of crises and conflicts ― and yes, occasional tension with the White House ― I think we’ve been really successful in transforming the department, implementing my top priority as the NDS, if you will, and then protecting the institution, which is really important to me,” Esper told the Military Times.
“And then … fourth, I should say, preserving my integrity in the process. My frustration is I sit here and say, ‘Hm, 18 Cabinet members. Who’s pushed back more than anybody?’ Name another Cabinet secretary that’s pushed back,” he said.
“Have you seen me on a stage saying, ‘Under the exceptional leadership of blah-blah-blah, we have blah-blah-blah-blah?’“
Washington Times reports that Esper has clashed with the President on efforts to strip the names of Confederate generals from Army bases and other issues.
But the final straw came last June, when he publicly broke with Trump on a proposal to send active-duty troops to restore order amid nationwide racial justice protests and riots.
The firing of Esper comes just two days after multiple news outlets declared that Trump had been defeated in the presidential race by Democrat Joseph Biden, who is now the presumptive president-elect.