Related News
Ex-US defense chief sues for records
Print Edition
Former US Defense Secretary Mark Esper claims in a lawsuit against the Defense Department that material is being improperly withheld from his use as he seeks to publish an 鈥渦nvarnished and candid memoir鈥 of his time in President Donald Trump鈥檚 Cabinet.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Sunday in the US District Court in Washington, describes the memoir, 鈥淎 Sacred Oath,鈥 as an account of Esper鈥檚 tenure as Army Secretary from 2017 to 2019 and his 18 months as Defense Secretary, which ended when Trump fired him in a tweet just days after the president lost his- reelection bid.
The period in which Esper was Pentagon chief was 鈥渁n unprecedented time of civil unrest, public health crises, growing threats abroad, Pentagon transformation, and a White House seemingly bent on circumventing the Constitution,鈥 the lawsuit says.
Esper and Trump were sharply divided over the use of the military during civil unrest in June 2020 following the killing of George Floyd.
Other issues led the president to believe Esper was not sufficiently loyal while Esper believed he was trying to keep the department apolitical.
Firing a defense secretary after an election loss was unprecedented.
But the opening allowed Trump to install loyalists in top Pentagon positions as he continued to dispute his election loss.
The lawsuit contends that 鈥渟ignificant text鈥 in the memoir, scheduled for publication by William Morrow in May, is being improperly held under the guise of classification and that Esper maintains it contains no classified information. The suit notes that Esper is restricted by his secrecy agreements from authorizing publication without Pentagon approval, or face possible civil and criminal liability.
The lawsuit quotes from a letter Esper sent to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin criticizing the review process. He wrote that he had been asked not to quote Trump and others in meetings, not to describe conversations he had with Trump, and not to use certain verbs or nouns when describing historical events.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
