Esper is still Defense secretary ‘as of right now,’ White House says after reports say Trump was angry with him

Esper’s remarks angered Trump and his aides at the White House, according to Bloomberg News. The news organization, citing Trump aides, said the White House viewed Esper’s remarks as out of line. Bloomberg News said the aides didn’t expect Trump to fire Esper. A senior administration official later told NBC News that Esper’s comments “were not well received” inside the White House. 

During a White House address Monday night, Trump stopped short of invoking the Insurrection Act but threatened to deploy active-duty U.S. military if states failed to quell demonstrations.

“As we speak, I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults and the wanton destruction of property,” Trump said at the time, while protesters were being pushed away from the White House.

After the address, Trump, accompanied by Esper and other Cabinet officials, walked to nearby St. John’s Church. There, Trump posed for cameras holding up a Bible. Esper later said he thought he would be surveying damage along with the president.

Esper, who was previously the secretary of the Army, ascended to the top spot in the Pentagon less than a year ago. His tenure as top Pentagon official follows the resignations of Trump’s first Secretary of Defense James Mattis and then-acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan.

Protests, some of which have turned violent, have rocked the nation since the late-May death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man whose neck was knelt on by a Minneapolis police officer for more than eight minutes during an arrest. The officer was charged with murder and manslaughter, and three others, who were at the scene, were charged with aiding and abetting him. 

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/03/esper-still-defense-secretary-at-the-moment-white-house-says-despite-trump-anger.html