White House considers Tom Cotton, others as possible Esper replacements
President Donald Trump is unhappy with Pentagon chief Mark Esper. Aides are gossiping about who could replace him. Yet the embattled Defense secretary may be on his way to a more Trumpian punishment: sidelined within the administration.
The White House has notably not jumped to Esper’s defense in the past day. When asked on Thursday whether Trump had lost confidence in the Defense secretary, White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley was noncommittal. National security adviser Robert O’Brien, who has on occasion appeared to publicly step on Esper’s toes, is also reportedly souring on the Defense secretary, viewing him as not fully committed to the president’s vision. At least once, CNN reported, O’Brien showed the president moments when Esper’s public remarks diverged from Trump’s own statements on a topic.
Republicans on the Hill also fear the political headache of trying to rush a high-profile Defense Department nominee through the Senate in a fraught political moment and a heated election. Meanwhile, Cotton drew a sharp contrast with Esper on Wednesday after the Defense secretary declared his opposition to deploying active-duty military units to deal with protesters. Cotton made a splash on Wednesday with an op-ed in The New York Times calling on the president to invoke the Insurrection Act to call in troops.
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