Former US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in excerpts from the book released on Monday that former US President Donald Trump asked protesters to be shot.
According to Arizona: “The president sat red-faced and loudly complaining in the Oval Office about the ongoing protests in Washington over the police killing of a black man.” “Can’t you shoot ’em? Just shoot ’em in the legs or something?” Trump said in Arizona’s memoir, as the Axios news website reports.
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The Arizona protests were related to the May 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police personnel. The participants in the nationwide demonstrations also clashed with security forces.
A preview of Arizona’s account appeared to confirm Trump’s previous reports, which argued that the military should be brought in to intervene to stem the escalating civil unrest.
Journalist Michael Bender quoted sources earlier in his book as saying that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, had argued with Trump against using the military to quell protests, while the president had a Strong response was demanded.
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Similar to the Arizona account, Bender, too, quoted Trump as saying: “Shoot them in the foot – or maybe in the foot… but be hard on them!”
During protests in 2020, US Park Police and National Guard troops use tear gas and flashbangs to clear protesters outside the White House.
At the time, Arizona was opposed to enacting the Insurgency Act, a rarely used 200-year-old law that allowed the military to be actively deployed within the country. Soon after, he was sacked because his stance had angered Trump.
Arizona’s book has been reviewed by the Pentagon and reviewed by generals and cabinet members. It will release on May 10.
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In the book, Esper reportedly described “a surreal atmosphere in Trump’s inner circle, with troops contemplating firing heavy-weight Americans in the air”.
“I had to find a way to walk back to Trump without creating the mess I was trying to avoid,” he wrote in his memoir, A Sacred Oath.