Trump has told aides for months he's unhappy with Mark Esper and wants to fire him. Trump's allies have told him doing so before the election would create turmoil.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has long been unhappy with Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and White House officials have talked to Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie about taking the top Pentagon job should Trump decide to fire Esper, three senior administration officials said.
Wilkie was one of several possible replacements for Esper whom the White House informally interviewed this summer about serving as defense secretary, two current officials and one former official said. The conversations took place as Trump's monthslong threats to fire Esper intensified, officials said. The option of naming Wilkie as acting Pentagon chief would give Trump the flexibility to remove Esper immediately after the November election, if not before.
Story continuesA White House official said Trump thought the decision was"politically stupid," and on Friday he wrote on Twitter,"The United States of America will NOT be cutting funding to @starsandstripes magazine under my watch." Trump has told aides for months that he is unhappy with Esper and wants to fire him. Trump's allies inside and outside the White House have told him that shaking up leadership at the Pentagon before the Nov. 3 election would create turmoil in his administration during the closing weeks of the campaign. It would come at a time when the president is planning to reduce the number of U.S. forces in hot spots such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
Another recent point of friction was the idea of renaming military bases named for Confederate generals and leaders. In June, Esper said he was open to the idea of renaming the bases. But days later, Trump issued a series of tweets denouncing the idea, writing that"my Administration will not even consider renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations.
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