Former Trump Pentagon boss Esper sues to publish material in memoir

Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper sued the Pentagon on Sunday, alleging officials there are improperly keeping him from publishing ”significant text” in a memoir he claims will provide an “unvarnished and candid” account of his time in the Trump administration.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, said the book, “A Sacred Oath,” recounts Esper’s time as Army secretary from 2017 to 2019 and his 18 months as defense secretary before President Trump fired him. The book is due out in May.

Esper, who often clashed with Trump, took a poke at the 45th president in his lawsuit, saying he worked for a “White House seemingly bent on circumventing the Constitution,” The Associated Press reported.

The lawsuit alleges that large passages in the memoir are being improperly held by a classification review.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement that the DOD is aware of Esper’s concerns and “takes seriously its obligation to balance national security with an author’s narrative desire.”