Trump Advisers Once Opposed Using Active-Duty Troops at Protests. Not Anymore.
When unrest erupted around the country in 2020, President Trump's then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper drew a line in the sand: active-duty military troops should rarely be deployed on American streets to quell protests.
'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,' Esper said, publicly breaking with Trump, who had floated deploying troops to respond to protests against the killing of George Floyd.
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