Donald Trump wanted to launch secret MISSILE strikes into Mexico to wipe out drug labs run by cartels, former defense secretary Mark Esper claims in new book

• Mark Esper, who served as Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense from July 2019 to November 2020, has written a new book, A Sacred Oath
• Esper, who was ‘terminated’ in a tweet by Trump, writes that Trump wanted to send missiles into Mexico to take out drug labs run by cartels
• Esper said of Trump: ‘He is an unprincipled person who, given his self-interest, should not be in the position of public service’ 

Donald Trump proposed ‘quietly’ launching missiles into Mexico to take out drug labs run by cartels, his former Defense Secretary has claimed in his new book.

Mark Esper, who worked for Trump from July 2019 to November 2020, is publishing his book on Tuesday.

He describes Trump as ‘an unprincipled person who, given his self-interest, should not be in the position of public service.’ 

Esper, in an extract obtained by The New York Times, recounts a remarkable discussion with Trump about Mexican drug cartels.

Trump, angered by drugs coming into the U.S. across the southern border, asked Esper at least twice if the military could ‘shoot missiles into Mexico to destroy the drug labs.’

Esper said Trump was dismissive of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and told him: ‘They don’t have control of their own country.’

Esper said he objected, but Trump replied: ‘We could just shoot some Patriot missiles and take out the labs, quietly,’ adding that ‘no one would know it was us.’  

Trump said, according to the book, that he would just say that the United States had not conducted the strike.

Esper said he initially believed Trump was joking, until he saw his face. 

Mark Esper is seen in May 2020 in the Rose Garden, as Donald Trump looks on

Trump is pictured with Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexico’s president, at the White House in July 2020

Mexican officials are pictured dismantling a clandestine drug lab in Sinaloa, Mexico, in June 2019

A Mexican officer stands guard over the makeshift lab in El Dorado, Sinaloa. Trump wanted to launch missiles into Mexico to take the labs out, and then deny the U.S. was responsible

Trump has not responded to Esper’s allegation.

Esper, 58, was fired by tweet by Trump in November 2020, with Trump saying he had been ‘terminated’.

An infantry officer who served in the Gulf War, Esper was chief of staff at the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation before working for several aerospace and weapons manufacturers.

Trump made him Secretary of the Army in June 2017.

Esper writes, according to The New York Times, that Trump was emboldened and more erratic after his first impeachment, in December 2019. 

On May 9, 2020, Trump behaved so erratically during a meeting about China with the Joint Chiefs of Staff that one officer confided in Esper he had begun researching the 25th Amendment.

Esper said he personally never felt that Trump’s behavior rose to that level. 

He was alarmed, however, by many of Trump’s demands. 

The president was angered by the protests against police brutality following the murder of George Floyd, and wanted Esper to put 10,000 active-duty troops on the streets of Washington on June 1, 2020.

Trump asked Esper of the demonstrators: ‘Can’t you just shoot them?’ 

Donald Trump is pictured in April 2020 with Bill Bar (left), the attorney general, and Esper (right)

Esper writes that there were several officials around Trump who he thought were particularly dangerous.

Stephen Miller, Trump’s hardline immigration advisor, was one of them.

Miller wanted to deploy 250,000 troops along the southern border, claiming that a large caravan of migrants was en route. 

‘The U.S. armed forces don’t have 250,000 troops to send to the border for such nonsense,’ Esper writes that he responded. 

In October 2019, when members of Trump’s team were gathered in the White House to watch the raid that killed the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Miller wanted to cut of Baghdadi’s head, dip it in pig’s blood and parade it around to warn other terrorists. 

Esper says he told Miller it would be a ‘war crime’.

Esper said he also clashed with Mark Meadows, who became chief of staff at the end of March 2020.

The former Defense Secretary claimed that Meadows would frequently issue orders in Trump’s name, but Esper at times doubted whether Trump was aware of the commands.

Esper also found Robert O’Brien – Trump’s national security adviser in the final year – difficult.

He accused O’Brien of advocating an aggressive approach to Iran, without considering the potential fallout. 

Esper said he considered resigning, but felt that he needed to keep working at the White House to balance the influence of others.

He sent his book to more than two dozen four-star generals, some cabinet members and others to weigh in on accuracy and fairness. 

‘I felt like I was writing for history and for the American people,’ he said. 

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