Former President Donald Trump was so angry with retired US Navy Adm. William McRaven for criticizing him that he wanted to take the extraordinary step of recalling him to active duty so he could be court-martialed, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper wrote in his new book, “A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times,”
According to Insider Esper and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley had to talk Trump out of reactivating McRaven and retired US Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, in a May 2020 meeting.
“Doing this ‘will backfire on you, Mr. President,’ we said,” Esper wrote.
Trump claimed the former top military commanders were “so disloyal” after reading conspiracy theories in far news outlet, Breitbart about McChrystal allegedly advising Democrats to “track down and counter Trump supporters” using artificial intelligence.
Esper writes that Trump backed off after Milley said he would “personally call the officers and ask them to dial it back.” McChrystal said he did not receive a call of that nature from Milley.
It is not uncommon for former top military officials to criticize a sitting president. There are several on Fox News criticizing Biden. However, Trump was bothered by McRaven’s criticisms because of his rank and his notoriety, Insider notes.
McRaven is a former head of US Special Operations Command who lead Operation Neptune Spear, the raid on al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. He was a frequent critic of Donald Trump throughout his presidency during his TV appearances and in op-eds.
He resigned from the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Board in August 2018 after writing an op-ed rebuking Trump’s decision to revoke the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan.
