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An informal briefing for lawmakers by Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy was also canceled for Friday, the aide said.
Rep. Adam Smith, the Democratic chairman of the House panel, called on Esper and Milley to appear in person before the committee “to explain this domestic engagement to the American people” this week, emphasizing that “the fate of our democracy depends on how we navigate this time of crisis.”
“At a time when our nation is hurting the President continues to forgo any effort to calm tensions, as we had all hoped he would. Instead he used force to remove peaceful protesters to stage a photo opportunity. Instead of taking a moment of silence in front of the historic St Johns’ Episcopal Church to pray for the lives lost he gathered his cronies to take a picture. Instead of doing the right thing, he once again did the absolute wrong thing,” Smith said in a statement Wednesday.
“I have serious concerns about using military forces to respond to protestors. The role of the U.S. military in domestic U.S. law enforcement is limited by law. It must not be used in violation of those limits and I see little evidence that President Trump understands this fundamental premise,” he added. “I remain gravely concerned about the President Trump’s seemingly autocratic rule and how it affects the judgment of our military leadership.”
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment. Politico was first to report Esper and Milley’s refusal to appear before the committee next week.
The same House aide told CNN Friday that the committee intends to continue to request that both Esper and Milley testify before lawmakers in person but, as of now, have received no indication from the Pentagon that they are working to schedule a hearing for a later date.
Asked Tuesday if he had confidence in Esper, Smith, said he “can’t really answer that question at this point” until he speaks with the defense secretary, which he had not done yet despite requesting a conversation with him.
Esper on shaky ground
CNN reported Wednesday that Esper is on shaky ground with the White House after saying he does not support using active duty troops to quell the large-scale protests across the US and those forces should only be used in a law enforcement role as a last resort.
Speaking from the Pentagon briefing room podium, Esper noted that “we are not in one of those situations now,” distancing himself from President Donald Trump’s recent threat to deploy the military to enforce order.
“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. We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act,” he told reporters. Esper also distanced himself from a maligned photo-op outside St. John’s Church.
Wednesday’s press briefing by Esper went over poorly at the White House, where his standing was already viewed to be tenuous, multiple people familiar with the matter said.
Esper’s comments Wednesday came after defense officials told CNN this week that there was deep and growing discomfort among some in the Pentagon even before Trump announced Monday that he is ready to deploy active duty forces if local leaders fail to ramp up enforcement efforts.
As gas wafted through the air in Lafayette Park across from the White House, Trump announced from the Rose Garden that if state or city leaders refuse “to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents,” he will invoke the Insurrection Act, an 1807 law that allows a president to deploy the US military to suppress civil disorder.
On Friday, Esper ordered that active duty troops who were moved to the Washington DC area should return to their home base of Fort Drum in New York, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said.
On Thursday, Esper ordered about 700 of the 1,600 active duty troops who were brought to the Washington region on Monday back to Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Friday’s order to the New York-based troops removes almost all the active duty presence brought in to bolster law enforcement. The troops had been positioned around Washington on “heightened alert status” to allow for their quick deployment amid nationwide protests.
McCarthy said that a small active duty component of the “Old Guard” based in Arlington, Virginia, will remain on stand-by for assistance, but that he hopes they will be taken off alert status this weekend. That will be contingent on protests in the capital continuing to be peaceful, McCarthy added.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Kevin Liptak, Vivian Salama and Jim Acosta contributed reporting
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