Ex-defense secretary Esper sues Pentagon for blocking parts of his memoir
Former US Defense Secretary Mark Esper is suing the Pentagon, arguing that the department is blocking portions of an upcoming memoir about his tenure under former president Donald Trump.
Esper, who served as defense secretary from July 2019 until being fired by Trump in November, filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon on Sunday, contending it is “improperly” withholding “significant text” from his memoir - A Sacred Oath- "under the guise of classification."
“The withheld text is crucial to telling important stories discussed in the Manuscript,” the lawsuit reads.
The book, which is set to be published in May, chronicles Esper’s experience in what he described as a “tumultuous second half of the Trump administration.”
Esper claimed in a statement that his goal is to give the public “a full and unvarnished accounting of our nation’s history, especially the more difficult periods.”
He wrote that his tenure was “an unprecedented time of civil unrest, public health crises, growing threats abroad, Pentagon transformation, and a White House seemingly bent on circumventing the Constitution.”
He said in the lawsuit that the Pentagon is unlawfully imposing restraint on his book by “delaying, obstructing and infringing on his constitutional right to publish” his book.
He noted defense officials redacted 60 pages of his memoir and told him not to quote Trump and others in meetings or mention their conversations. He added officials also asked him not to use certain nouns and verbs while writing about historical events in the book.
“I am more than disappointed the current Administration is infringing on my First Amendment constitutional rights,” Esper said in his statement. “And it is with regret that legal recourse is the only path now available for me to tell my full story to the American people.”
Esper and Trump clashed over using the military to corral demonstrators protesting the police murder of Black George Floyd last June. Trump accused him of not being sufficiently loyal while Esper claimed he was trying to keep his department politically neutral.
US fighter aircraft shot down ‘in friendly fire’ amid aggression on Yemen
Senior US delegation in Syria for talks with HTS ‘terrorists’
US pushes new strike group into region after aircraft carrier flees Yemen’s firepower
‘All wars have rules. All of those rules have been broken’ by Israel
VIDEO | Report flags India’s violation of rights of Rohingya detainees
Turkey's foreign minister meets Syria's de facto leader in Damascus
'Next to impossible' to rescue patients from Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital: Director
VIDEO | Vietnam current prosperity
Report blames gasoil exports for shortage at Iranian power plants
VIDEO | Hind Rajab Foundation names Israeli war criminals vacationing after Gaza genocide
VIDEO | Australians rally for Gaza ahead of Christmas festivities
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
