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Former President Trump's response to Mark Esper's 60 Minutes interview

Esper on Trump’s nickname for him
"Yesper": Mark Esper explains the nickname President Trump gave him 00:42

When asked for comment on this week's interview with Mark Esper, Mr. Trump sent 60 Minutes' Norah O'Donnell a written letter attacking Esper and disputing some of the claims he had made. The letter is below.


Norah, as per your request on "Yesper." See you soon! 

Q: During a June 1, 2020 meeting at White House the cabinet was debating what to do about "protests" and "civil unrest," Mark Esper says President Trump wanted to shoot some of the protesters in the legs, a lot of foul language was used and accused President Trump of calling members of the cabinet "f*ing losers." 

This is a complete lie, and 10 witnesses can back it up. Mark Esper was weak and totally ineffective, and because of it, I had to run the military. I took out ISIS, Qasem Soleimani, al­ Baghdadi, rebuilt the military with $2.5 trillion, created Space Force, and so much more. Mark Esper was a stiff who was desperate not to lose his job. He would do anything I wanted, that's why I called him "Yesper." He was a lightweight and figurehead, and I realized it very early on. He was recommended to me by some very weak RINOs and that is what he turned out to be.

Q: President Trump wanted to send 10,000 active duty troops into Washington, D.C. after St. John's church was set on fire.

Wrong. I wanted to send at least 10,000 troops for January 6, because I knew many people were coming to Washington that day to protest the corrupt Presidential Election of 2020. Nancy Pelosi and the D.C. Mayor turned me down. 60 Minutes should ask them why they chose to not have proper security, which would have totally changed that day and allowed us to have a proper debate on the evidence of massive Election Fraud, which the Fake News media still refuses to cover whatsoever.

Q: Later in a meeting at the White House President Trump contended that his Secretary of Defense had taken away his authority on the Insurrection Act and didn't believe he could invoke it anymore.

This is Fake News. The fact is I didn't need to invoke the act and never did.

Q: Esper says Mark Meadows called him to relieve him of his post, and said Esper was not sufficiently loyal and the "President was not happy with you."

I fired Yesper because he was a RINO incapable of leading, and I had to run the military myself.

Q: On a couple of occasions President Trump suggested to Esper they "attack the drug cartels with missiles." 

No comment.

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