Trump Wanted to Secretly Bomb Drug Labs in Mexico, Says His Former Defense Secretary

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.

Former President Donald Trump mused aloud about conducting secret missile strikes on illegal drug labs in Mexico, according to former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.

In an upcoming book titled, A Sacred Oath, Esper states Trump asked him on at least two occasions if the United States military could “shoot missiles into Mexico to destroy the drug labs.”

The excerpt was flagged by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.

Esper recalls Trump as stating, “They don’t have control of their own country.”

As such, Trump reportedly said that “we could just shoot some Patriot missiles and take out the labs, quietly.” He also allegedly claimed that “no one would know it was us” and that the U.S. could simply deny it was behind any such strikes.

The book says Esper would have believed Trump was joking were it not for the serious look on his face when he proposed the idea.

The allegation comes just days after Axios published a snippet of Esper’s book where he recalls Trump suggesting protestors outside the White House in June 2020 be shot.

“Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” Trump asked, according to Esper, who described the scene as “surreal.”

Trump eventually fired Esper shortly after losing the 2020 presidential election because he viewed him as insufficiently loyal. The then-president had been making wild accusations about the election being stolen from him.

In the book, Esper says of Trump, “He is an unprincipled person who, given his self-interest, should not be in the position of public service.”