Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman denies reports of Mark Esper's resignation

Chief Spokesman of Pentagon Jonathan Hoffman on Friday, November 6, denied a report stating that the US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper is planning to resign. Taking to his Twitter, he said that the NBC story is ‘inaccurate and misleading’. The NBC reports stated that Esper had prepared his letter because he is one of those officials who are expected to be ‘pushed out’ after the election. 

Esper to continue serving US

The reports further said that Esper is helping the lawmakers with the drafting of legislation to remove Federal names from military bases. This could further contribute to a rift between him and President Donald Trump. Denying all of this written in the report, Hoffman said that Esper has no plans to resign as he wrote, “Secretary of Defense Esper has no plans to resign, nor has he been asked to submit a letter of resignation”. He further added that Esper will continue to serve as the Secretary of Defense at the ‘Pleasure of the President’. Hoffman also mentioned that he is working on the irreversible implementation of the National Defense Strategy.

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Read: US Defense Sec. Mark Esper Meets Israeli Leaders

In a separate development, Esper recently made a visit to Israel and met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz. According to the reports by AP, the visit included a tour of the Iron Dome missile defence system. The US military will soon be adopting the same defense system. The shared use of the system was considered a "testament" to the alliance between the two nations, as per Netanyahu. 

Read: Pentagon Estimates Cost Of New Nuclear Missiles At $95.8B

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Image Credits: (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)