Breaking: Pentagon chief says he does not support the use of active-duty military forces to quell unrest, breaking with Trump

In response to unrest related to the death of George Floyd, President Trump threatened to use active-duty military on U.S. streets, which would require the invocation of the Insurrection Act to give U.S. troops arrest powers and other law-enforcement authorities.“The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire of situations,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Wednesday. “We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act.”…

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Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper acknowledged on Wednesday that he did know beforehand where he was headed when he accompanied President Trump on his walk to St. John’s Church in Washington on Monday.

Mr. Esper had initially claimed that he was unaware of his destination when he joined the president for a walk across Lafayette Square for a photo op Monday after authorities tear-gassed protesters to clear the way.

In a Pentagon news conference, Mr. Esper also said he did not think the current state of the protests warranted use of the Insurrection Act to deploy active-duty troops in American cities. About 1,500 airborne troops and military police were ordered to positions outside the capital, officials said Tuesday night.

After the much-criticized photo op, Mr. Esper told NBC News in an interview Tuesday that when he set out with Mr. Trump, “I didn’t know where I was going.” He said he thought the purpose was to view troops near Lafayette Square, and “I wanted to see how much damage actually happened.”

His comments on Tuesday were widely interpreted as an effort to distance himself from Monday night’s events, which attracted harsh criticism from former senior military officials. But Mr. Esper’s initial efforts to claim ignorance infuriated White House officials.

A Pentagon spokesman tried to walk back Mr. Esper’s comments Tuesday night, saying that he was aware that the church was one of the locations where he would be viewing damage, though the defense secretary did not know the president was going to use it for a photo opportunity.

White House officials said Mr. Esper was aware of the plan, that he told officials beforehand, “I’m walking to the church with the president,” and that he was in the room when officials discussed the plan to pose with the Bible….

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