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Trump wanted to shut down all embassies in Africa, withdraw all troops from South Korea, meet with the Taliban and argued frequently with Merkel about sending aid to Ukraine, Mark Esper claims in book
The former Pentagon chief details a number of 'outlandish' proposals his old boss confronted him with in the forthcoming book, A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times.
Among them were pulling the US military out of South Korea, where it's been for more than half a century, and repeatedly rebuffing pushes to follow American foreign policy on Ukraine.
The new excerpt released by Politico primarily focuses on Trump's alleged eagerness to meet with the Taliban, which the ex-president believed would 'cast him as an extraordinary diplomat and businessman.
The meeting ended up being called off after a September 5 car bomb in Kabul killed 12 people including one American service member.
'Some of the things he was proposing were outlandish — such as a “complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from South Korea” or the pullback of all military and diplomatic personnel from Africa,' Esper wrote of Trump.
He recalled Trump bluntly saying, 'Shut down the embassies in Africa' and 'bring our people [US diplomats] back home.'
Esper claims Trump was 'irritated' at his push-back.
In 2018 Trump infamously referred to African nations and Haiti as 's***hole countries' during a discussion about the flow of immigrants to the US, and apparently added that the country needed more immigrants from Norway.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...rica-meet-Taliban-Mark-Esper-claims-book.html
- An excerpt shared from the former defense secretary's new book details a meeting in which US officials tried to dissuade Trump from a Taliban meeting
- While discussing his eventual Taliban peace deal, Trump 'leaped around the world like a bullfrog jumping from lily pad to lily pad' in his complaints
- Former national security adviser John Bolton reportedly joked that any Taliban member coming to the White House would have to go through a magnetometer
- Esper also told CBS' 60 Minutes program that he helped prevent a series of 'dangerous things that could have taken the country in a dark direction'
- Esper cited various examples including a proposal to 'take military action against Venezuela, 'strike Iran' and, 'at one point, blockade Cuba'
- Many of the extreme ideas occurred during final year of Trump's administration
- Other revelations also include exploring the idea of secretly launching missiles into Mexico and shooting people in the leg protesting the death of George Floyd
- Esper claimed President Trump discussed sending 10,000 active duty troops to Washington, D.C., during racial injustice protests
- Trump has denied all the claims made by Esper and has released a statement
The former Pentagon chief details a number of 'outlandish' proposals his old boss confronted him with in the forthcoming book, A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times.
Among them were pulling the US military out of South Korea, where it's been for more than half a century, and repeatedly rebuffing pushes to follow American foreign policy on Ukraine.
The new excerpt released by Politico primarily focuses on Trump's alleged eagerness to meet with the Taliban, which the ex-president believed would 'cast him as an extraordinary diplomat and businessman.
The meeting ended up being called off after a September 5 car bomb in Kabul killed 12 people including one American service member.
'Some of the things he was proposing were outlandish — such as a “complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from South Korea” or the pullback of all military and diplomatic personnel from Africa,' Esper wrote of Trump.
He recalled Trump bluntly saying, 'Shut down the embassies in Africa' and 'bring our people [US diplomats] back home.'
Esper claims Trump was 'irritated' at his push-back.
In 2018 Trump infamously referred to African nations and Haiti as 's***hole countries' during a discussion about the flow of immigrants to the US, and apparently added that the country needed more immigrants from Norway.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...rica-meet-Taliban-Mark-Esper-claims-book.html

