Former Trump Defense Secretary Insists ‘It’s a Legitimate Fear’ Trump Will Throw Enemies in Jail if Reelected
Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said on Monday it was “a legitimate fear” that former President Donald Trump could throw his enemies, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, in prison if reelected president in 2024.
During an appearance on CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Esper defended Milley from Trump’s most recent attacks and said, “Milley’s tenure was extraordinary. He did a great job, he has served honorably, and he deserves our praise and thanks, and he does not deserve what he’s receiving from President Trump right now.”
Asked by host Kaitlan Collins for his thoughts on the recent report which claimed Milley was afraid Trump would “start throwing people in jail” if reelected and that he would be at the “top of the list,” Esper said, “Look, I think it’s a legitimate fear.”
He continued:
If you’ll recall from my memoir that you mentioned at the top, I cite a circumstance where the president, egged on by his close advisers, wanted to call back to active duty Admiral McRaven and General McChrystal to court martial them for some things that they allegedly said in the public domain, and Milley and I had to talk the president out of doing that for many number of reasons. So is it possible that a new loyalist sitting around Trump in the Oval Office will say, ‘Let’s call up Milley’? Yeah, it’s quite likely.
Now the good news is that there’s a silver lining in all this, is Trump’s kind of poisoned the well. I don’t know that a jury or anybody would find that he could be, given what we would call command influence, that such a thing could happen. But nonetheless, I think it’s a legitimate fear. The president has also said that a second term would be about retribution, right? So, I think these are all legitimate concerns.
Collins responded, “Can we just take a moment? You were his Pentagon chief. The former defense secretary is saying that it is a legitimate fear that the former commander-in-chief, who is seeking to be the commander-in-chief again, would want to seek retribution against someone like General Milley simply because he doesn’t like the way that that tenure is being reported in books and in articles?”
Esper said, “Yeah, and I think simply also because the way Milley conducted himself was to offer candid, frank advice.”
The former defense secretary claimed, “Look, he doesn’t like that. He wants to find yes men in his office, and so yeah, he would do that. It’s hard for me to believe I’m saying that as well. I wish I didn’t have to say that, but if I didn’t have the experience in the Oval Office with President Trump seriously wanting to call back to active duty McChrystal and McRaven to court martial them, you know, I would be less certain. But unfortunately, it is what it is.”
Watch above via CNN.
