Bucking Trump, Esper says no need for military response to Floyd protests

Trump on Monday raised the specter of invoking the 1807 law in a Rose Garden address on Monday. Speaking at the same time as federal officers used force to clear peaceful protesters from outside the White House, Trump threatened to use the military to stamp out the continuing unrest across the country.

“If a city or a state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them,” Trump said. In his Wednesday remarks, Esper said he believes the National Guard is “best suited for performing domestic support to civil authorities in these situations in support of local enforcement.”

The death of Floyd, whose final moments under the knee of a Minnesota police officer were captured on camera, set off days-long protests across the country, some of them violent.Courtney Kube is a correspondent covering national security and the military for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

The coffee boy's done it now...

I wish ex-Defense Sec. Esper the best of luck in his future endeavors.

He knows his opinion means nothing. Trump is the decision-maker. That doesn't stop MSNBC from whining.

Doesn't sound like a dictator to me!

Please make sure he doesn’t qualify for unemployment.

Dishonest divisive media. That isn't what he meant. Purveyors of falsehood.

Brave man to disagree with his emperor

Well he’s going to be out of a job within a couple of weeks.

LIBERTY, JUSTICE, EQUALITY !

Did any of you read the article? Nice try NBC. Read what the man said. We have more than enough national guard out there to handle the situation.

Uhhhh isn’t he a little late?

Who are you Esper, really? Deep State.

SpiroAgnewGhost He didn't 'buck Trump ' he slightly nudged him then tried to lie that it didn't happened...then said ask the DOJ about the incident.

Good decision.

Guess Espers starting to realize how foolish Trump is making him look.

had been setting fires & throwing bricks at officers! THAT IS NOT EVEN REMOTELY 'PEACEFUL'! It's incredible the lengths the FAKE NEWS will go to in order to smear President Trump!

Don't need them because tRump hired professionals. You've seen them, all the unmarked 'officers'. Paid for by the American taxpayers.

For the terminally stupid IF they military & police HAD used 'tear gas' the way the FAKE NEWS KEEPS stupidly claiming THEN they WOULD HAVE WORN GAS MASKS! Duh! But NO ONE WAS SO OBVIOUSLY NO TEAR GAS WAS USED! Just smoke bombs! AND THEY WERE NOT 'PEACEFUL' protestors! Those scum

.EsperDoD I appreciate you finally taking a stand. It should have happened before now. Integrity matters. To the VP and rest of the TrumpAdministration and the GOP SenateGOP HouseGOP senatemajldr GOPLeader You need to find your integrity too, if you still have any.

To emphasize, the Insurrection Act requires a formal proclamation in order to be invoked. Trump *threatened* to use it if state National Guards aren’t effective, but vague threats and ambiguous speeches don’t cut it. He wants to look tough without actually taking responsibility.

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