FLASHBACK: Trump’s Ex-Pentagon Chief Recalls How Then-President Wanted To ‘Bring In The Troops And Shoot The Protesters’ In D.C.

Former President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told CBS’s 60 Minutes in May of 2022 how the then-president wanted to use the U.S. military to shoot social justice protesters in 2020.

Esper recalled the scene to Norah O’Donnell, saying the “president is ranting at the room. He’s using a lot of, you know, foul language. You know, you all are effin losers…”

“And it really caught my attention, and I thought, that– we’re at a different spot now. He’s gonna finally give a direct order to deploy paratroopers into the streets of Washington, D.C. And I’m thinking with weapons and bayonets. This would be horrible.”

“What specifically was he suggesting that the U.S. military should do to these protesters?” O’Donnell followed up.

“He says, can’t you just shoot them, just shoot them in the legs or something? And he’s suggesting that that’s what we should do, that we should bring in the troops and shoot the protesters,” Esper replied.

“The commander in chief was suggesting that the U.S. military shoot protesters?” O’Donnell pressed.

“Yes. In the streets of our nation’s capital. That’s right,” Esper replied.

O’Donnell explained how Esper then managed to get Trump to back down from giving such an order:

Esper told us he wanted to avoid the president invoking the Insurrection Act, which would have allowed Mr. Trump to deploy active-duty troops. Instead, Esper says he helped mobilize 5,000 members of the national guard whose mission includes responding to civil unrest.

And to placate Mr. Trump, Esper writes he also ordered part of the 82nd Airborne up from Ft. Bragg, North Carolina to a base just outside Washington. That evening, the U.S. Park Police used force to clear protestors from Lafayette Park and the Cabinet was called back to the White House.

Watch the full interview here.