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President Trump appointed Esper Acting Defense Secretary and nominated him for Defense Secretary. By law, Esper could not serve as Acting Secretary during the confirmation process, so Spencer was Acting Defense Secretary for a brief period.
News about NATO, defense spending, Ukraine
News about Donald Trump, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Getty Images
“I had no choice but to leave,” General James Mattis says of his decision to resign as President Trump’s secretary of defense.
One of Donald Trump's first acts as president was the approval of Mattis's waiver to become Secretary of Defense. After being confirmed by the Senate on the evening of January 20, 2017, by a vote of 98–1, Mattis was sworn in by Vice President Pence on the same evening.
In 2019, Esper was named acting defense secretary; he was confirmed shortly afterwards as the 27th defense secretary by the United States Senate with a vote of 90–8. He was dismissed from the office by President Donald Trump by Twitter posting on November 9, 2020.
Following his election as the 45th President of the United States in 2016, Donald Trump and his transition team considered individuals to fill the position of Secretary of Defense. The secretary of defense works with the president and the National Security Council to decide security needs, as well as necessary plans of action to provide the ...
Nov 9, 2020 · WASHINGTON — President Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper on Monday, upending the military’s leadership at a time when Mr. Trump’s refusal to concede the election has created a...
Nov 9, 2020 · Defense Secretary Mark Esper has been "terminated," President Trump wrote in a tweet, and will be replaced by Christopher C. Miller, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
