US Defense Secretary Mark Esper (left), President Donald Trump (center) and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Army General Mark Milley (right) wait in the Cabinet Room of The White House for a meeting on October 7, 2019, with top military leaders. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty ImagesAccording to a new book, Milley and Esper opposed Trump's use of troops to suppress the Floyd protests.According to the book, Trump was fascinated by the idea of invoking Insurrection Act.Trump worried that the US would seem out of control in the initial days of protests.Check out more stories from Insider's business page.Millions of Americans marched in protest of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis police custody in May 2020.Trump summoned Gen. Mark Milley and Defense secretary Mark Esper to discuss the situation. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows was also present to help him.According to Carol D. Leonnig, and Philip Rucker, the Washington Post's reporters, the president was upset by a New York Times story that he was taken to a bunker during protests near his White House.Trump demanded that active-duty troops are used to quell the protests. This was what Milley, the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff and Esper wanted to end as an option.Continue reading: Where are Trump's White House staff currently? To show the places they all went, we created a searchable database with more than 327 top employees.Milley was skeptical when Trump mentioned the 1960s race-riots in order to justify the use troops to restore order. This was part of a longer discussion in which the president cursed his top military advisers. Leonnig and Rucker discussed this in "I Alone Can Repair It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Last Year."According to Milley, "Mr. President," it isn't comparable to the summer sixty-eight." It's not even close."Stephen Miller, a senior advisor, chimed in to call the protests "an insurrection". Milley pointed out a portrait by Abraham Lincoln who led the country through American Civil War.Continue the storyAccording to Milley's book, Milley stated that Mr. President was insurgent. "You don’t have an insurrection. If you have insurrection, it's when men show up in gray and bomb Fort Sumter.Trump was open to the idea of using the Insurrection Act to deploy troops throughout the country to stop civil disorder and insurrection. However, Milley, Esper, and Esper continued to oppose the idea.Trump was furious at the media coverage of protests on June 1 and urged governors to "dominate the unrest.""How does this look to hostile countries?" According to the book, Trump stated these words. They see that we cannot even control our capital city and the space surrounding the White House!Esper once more called for troops. The president continued to attack the Resolute Desk, stating that the National Guard was the best option to end any unrest. However, Esper then told the Defense Secretary that he hadn't done enough to resolve the problem.Trump wanted to make Milley the commander of an operation to restore order. But after Milley reiterated that he was not in an operational position, the president lost the opportunity.Continue reading: Where are Trump's White House staff currently? To show the places they all went, we created a searchable database with more than 327 top employees.According to the book, Trump stated that "you're all f---ed-up." "Everyone of you is f---ed."Trump looked at Vice President Mike Pence who had been a quiet observer and directed his ire towards his No. 2."Including you!" According to the book, the president stated that he meant it.Later that day, Trump and Esper, along with several other advisors, walked to the nearby St. John's Episcopal Church from the White House complex.After protestors had been violently removed from Lafayette Park, the photo of Trump holding a Bible in front the church attracted immediate criticism. In June 2021, however, the inspector general of the Interior Department found that Trump's photoshoot was not conducted by the US Park Police and Secret Service. Instead, they installed anti-scale fencing.Business Insider has the original article.
