Defense Secretary Mark Esper testifies during a House Armed Services Committee hearing in July 2020, in Washington, DC
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Greg Nash / Getty Images
Defense Secretary Mark Esper testifies during a House Armed Services Committee hearing in July 2020, in Washington, DC
Greg Nash / Getty Images
Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper has filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon, which he says ordered him to compile parts of an “unwritten and candid memoir” that he hopes will be published. version of his days in the Trump White House.
Esper, who was fired by then-President Donald Trump after the November 2020 election, said the Department of Defense, which he led for nearly 16 months, had “arbitrarily” edited the manuscript for the book, A sacred oath.
“Critical text is being inappropriately withheld from publication … under the guise of classification,” the lawsuit said, filed Sunday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, as reported. reported by New York Times. “Text retained is crucial to telling the key stories discussed in the manuscript.”
The lawsuit, obtained by NPR, describes Esper’s brief tenure as head of the Department of Defense as “a period of unprecedented civil unrest, a public health crisis, growing threats at home, and growing domestic threats.” Externally, the transformation of the Pentagon and the White House seems to want to circumvent the Constitution.”
The ad copy on Amazon says the book will reveal “shocking details about [Esper’s] tumultuous tenure while serving in the Trump administration. “The book is scheduled to be published in May by William Morrow.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told NPR in a statement that the department was aware of Esper’s concerns. “As with all such assessments, the department takes seriously its obligation to balance national security with the author’s narrative desires,” he said, adding that since this is Due to legal issues, no further comment will be made.
Esper has been fired on November 9, 2020, reportedly due to a number of policy differences – most notably His objections to Trump’s threats to use active duty troops in response to the Black Lives Matter protests. Trump wrote in a tweet that Esper had been “terminated”.
In a tweet on SundayEsper’s attorney, Mark Zaid, said that the former Secretary of Defense was “the highest-ranking official ever to sue” to challenge such transactions.
In an email to NPR, Zaid added that the fact that someone as tall as a cabinet official doesn’t have enough opportunity to discuss any [government] concerns. “
The lawsuit says that Esper submitted the manuscript last May, and when he received a response last month, it contained transactions that moved to sections of 60 pages.
It said Esper emailed incumbent Secretary of State Lloyd Austin earlier this month after he was asked “not to quote former President Trump and others in meetings [and] do not describe conversations between the former president and me, and do not use certain verbs or nouns when describing historical events. “
Esper is bound by secrecy rules to give the Pentagon a first look at any potentially sensitive manuscripts.
“For nearly six months, I patiently followed the official process, only to have my unclassified manuscript edit it without a clear explanation as to why,” Esper said in his statement. at the same time, adding that he is disappointed with the current administration for what he considers violations. its constitutional rights.
NPR national security correspondent Tom Bowman contributed to this report.
