President Donald Trump has announced that he has fired Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Chrstopher C. Miller will replace Esper. The President made the announcement earlier today via his favorite social media app, Twitter.
"I am pleased to announce that Christopher C. Miller, the highly respected Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, will be Acting Secretary of Defense, effective immediately," he tweeted.
"Chris will do a great job! Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service."
The news comes just hours after outlets reported that Esper had prepped a resignation letter. Both Esper and Trump have bumped heads in recent months. Most notably, Esper condemned Trump's threats to deploy U.S. troops to cities where citizens were protesting against police violence.
“I say this not only as secretary of Defense, but also as a former soldier and a former member of the National Guard, the option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort, and only in the most urgent and dire situations. We are not in one of those situations now,” Esper said.
During this summer's unrest, the President suggested invoking the Insurrection Act, a 19th Century law that would allow Trump to deploy U.S. troops to respond to civil unrest.
“I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act,” he stated.
Hours after making that statement, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany hinted that there may be a growing feud between the two political elites.
“I would say if he loses confidence in Secretary Esper I’m sure you all will be the first to know. As of right now, Secretary Esper is still Secretary Esper, and should the president lose faith, we will all learn about that in the future,” she said.
Neither Esper nor the Pentagon has released a statement regarding the matter.
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