Trump hit back at Mark Esper's series of damaging claims, saying his former defense chief was so useless he had to 'run the military' himself

• Trump pushed back at a series of damaging remarks from his former defense secretary Mark Esper.
• "Mark Esper was weak and totally ineffective," Trump said.

Former President Donald Trump rejected some of the damaging claims made about him by Mark Esper, calling his former defense secretary so ineffective that Trump had to "run the military" himself.

In a "60 Minutes" interview that aired on Sunday, Esper said that while serving as defense secretary, he had to push back on several of Trump's desires to use military force in a number of situations, including getting the military to fire on anti-racism protesters in 2020 and firing missiles into Mexico to destroy drug labs. Esper described claims he made in his new memoir about serving in the Trump administration.

Trump responded to the claims in a statement to CBS, saying Esper was incompetent.

"Mark Esper was weak and totally ineffective and because of it, I had to run the military," the statement said.

"Mark Esper was a stiff who was desperate not to lose his job. He would do anything I wanted, that's why I called him 'Yesper.' He was a lightweight and figurehead, and I realized it very early on," it continued.

In the "60 Minutes" interview, Esper described a meeting with Trump in 2020 in which Trump complained that Esper had taken away his ability to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy troops onto the streets in response to the George Floyd anti-racism protests.

Esper told reporters on June 3, 2020, that he had declared his opposition to evoking the act. He said during Sunday's "60 Minutes" interview that Trump was furious with him in a meeting after the press conference.

In the statement, Trump denied that he wanted to evoke the Insurrection Act, despite having said on June 1, 2020, that he would "deploy the United States military" if state governors didn't increase their use of force to quell the protests. It was this statement that prompted Esper to publicly oppose the deployment.

"This is Fake News," Trump said of Esper's claim. "The fact is I didn't need to invoke the act and never did."

And in response to Esper's claim that he'd pushed back on Trump's suggestion that the US use missiles to destroy drugs labs in Mexico, Trump responded, "No comment."

Esper is the latest senior Trump administration official to release a book with damaging revelations about their time in office. Trump has characteristically responded to criticism by former officials by questioning their competence and insulting them.

Trump fired Esper in November 2020 shortly after losing the presidential election, having fallen out with him over the response to the George Floyd protests.

Trump continues to stir rumors of another bid for the presidency in 2024.