'When guys start bombing Fort Sumter, you'll have an insurrection': How General Milley sought to calm Trump after he called his team 'f**ked up' for refusing to use army to quell George Floyd protests
Donald Trump exploded at Gen. Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Mark Esper after they refused to deploy active-duty troops to quell protests over George Floyd's death last June, a new book has revealed.
At the time, both Milley and Esper wanted to avoid that option, resulting in the then-president cursing out his top military advisors, according to a new book by Washington Post reporters Carol D. Leonnig and Philip Rucker.
'You're all f**ked up,' Trump said, according to the book titled, I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year. 'Every one of you is f**ked up.'
Trump's plans were to make Milley the leader of an operation to restore order, but Milley explained he wasn't in an operational role, which is when the former president lost it.
According to the book, Trump pointed to the 1960s race riots to justify the use of troops to restore order, which Milley immediately dismissed.
'Mr. President, it doesn't compare anywhere to the summer of sixty-eight,' Milley said, according to the book. 'It's not even close.'
While attempting to quell protests during the aftermath of George Floyd's death, former President Donald Trump reportedly exploded at Gen. Mark Milley and Defense secretary Mark Esper, after his demand for deploying active-duty troops was dismissed.
Trump's plans were to make Milley the leader of an operation to restore order after the protests, but Milley explained he wasn't in an operational role, which is when the former president lost it. Pictured here are dozens of protestors gathering for a Black Lives Matter march in Washington, D.C. after the death of George Floyd
Former Trump advisor Stephen Miller declared the protests were 'an insurrection,' which was when Milley pointed to a portrait of former President Abraham Lincoln, and said: 'Mr. President, that guy had an insurrection. You don't have an insurrection.'
'When guys show up in gray and start bombing Fort Sumter, you'll have an insurrection,' Milley added.
Trump initially wanted to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would let him deploy troops across the country to end any civil disorder or insurrection, but Milley and Esper didn't agree.
Hours later, Trump (far left) along with Milley (far right), Esper and several other advisors, walked from the White House complex to nearby St. John's Episcopal Church, in what is now considered an infamous photo-op.
Many protestors were tear-gassed and aggressively pushed for no apparent reason, while Trump delivered a speech in front St. John's Episcopal Church nearby
According to the book, that response didn't go over well with the former president.
'How do you think this looks to hostile countries?' Trump fired back. 'They see we can't even control our own capital city and the space around the White House!'
Hours later, Trump, along with Milley, Esper, and several other advisors, walked from the White House complex to nearby St. John's Episcopal Church, in what is now considered an infamous photo-op.
In the photo, Trump held up a bible in front of St. John's Episcopal Church, without praying or quoting a verse, as dozens of protestors were violently cleared from Lafayette Park nearby.
'We have the greatest country in the world,' Trump said. 'Keep it nice and safe.'
Many protestors were tear-gassed and aggressively pushed for no apparent reason.
In June 2021, the inspector general for the Interior Department later determined that the US Park Police and Secret Service said they cleared the park to install anti-scale fencing and not for Trump's photoshoot.