Former President Donald Trump hit back at Mark Esper, his one-time secretary of defence, as a "lightweight" and Republican in name only but did not deny bombshell allegations that he wanted to shoot racial justice protesters or fire missiles at drug targets in Mexico.
The ex-president accused Esper of keeping quiet about Trump's more outlandish suggestions because he was an eager-to-please rubber stamp.
"Mark Esper was a stiff who was desperate not to lose his job. He would do anything I wanted, that's why I called him 'Yesper,'" Trump said in a statement to CBS News, which aired an interview Sunday with Esper on "60 Minutes."
"He was a lightweight and figurehead, and I realized it very early on," Trump added.
Trump did not deny several of Esper's explosive claims, like that he wanted to invoke the Insurrection Act to crack down on peaceful protest or fire missiles at Mexico.
He also did not explain why he did not actually carry out those actions if Esper was so malleable.
"The fact is I didn't need to invoke the act and never did," Trump said.
Trump said he only appointed Esper because he was bamboozled by "some RINOs." Esper served as Pentagon chief until Trump fired him immediately after Election Day 2020.
"I fired (Esper) because he was a RINO (Republican In Name Only) incapable of leading and I had to lead the military myself," Trump said in the statement.
Esper levelled the allegations against Trump in his forthcoming tell-all "A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times," which hits bookstores Tuesday.
The former head of the army says he was flabbergasted at some of the suggestions that Trump made, especially opening fire on protesters and firing missiles at targets in Mexico.
He claims hard-line Trump aide Stephen Miller also pressed him to dispatch 250,000 troops to the southern border and wanted the US to parade the severed head of a slain Islamic State leader to deter other extremists, a claim Miller denies.
Like other one-time Trump acolytes, Esper kept quiet about the dangerous behaviour even after he was fired and failed to speak out during Trump's impeachment trial.
The book's manuscript underwent intense and lengthy vetting for accuracy; the accounts in it were verified by dozens of witnesses including other top brass.
