Trump asked Pentagon about bombing Mexican drug labs on suggestion of health official, book reports


Former President Donald Trump considered bombing drug labs in Mexico after a top public health official, dressed in his military-like dress uniform, suggested putting "lead to target" to stop the flow of illegal drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman writes in her upcoming book on Trump, according to The Washington Post.
Trump raised the idea "several times, eventually asking a stunned Defense Secretary Mark Esper whether the United States could indeed bomb the labs," Haberman reports. Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir, an admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service, often wore his dress uniform into Oval Office meetings with Trump, confusing the president, White House officials told Haberman for her book, Confidence Man. "The response from White House aides was not to try to change Trump's view, but to consider asking Giroir not to wear his uniform to the Oval Office anymore."
Giroir declined to publicly discuss his private conversations with Trump but told the Post that when it comes to Mexican drug labs, "every option needs to be on the table." Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich, as he has when presented with other reports from Haberman's book, dismissed it as a "boring" collection of "anonymously sourced fairytales." Among the more than 250 people Haberman spoke with for her book is Trump, who she interviewed three times.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Confidence Man contains all sorts of dishy stories about Trump dating back to the 1980s, and you can reads some of them — why he sought out Black judges in his real estate lawsuits, how he told Rudy Giuliani to "go wild" as his lead lawyer challenging his election loss, the time he might have called a congresswoman pretending to be a newspaper reporter, his verbal abuse of female world leaders and mockery of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as she was dying — at The Washington Post.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
A running list of all the celebrities Trump has pardoned
IN DEPTH Reality stars, rappers and disgraced politicians have received some of the high-profile pardons doled out by the president
-
'The pattern is similar across America'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
White House tackles fake citations in MAHA report
speed read A federal government public health report spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was rife with false citations
-
Judge blocks push to bar Harvard foreign students
speed read Judge Allison Burroughs sided with Harvard against the Trump administration's attempt to block the admittance of international students
-
Trump's trade war whipsawed by court rulings
Speed Read A series of court rulings over Trump's tariffs renders the future of US trade policy uncertain
-
What's next for Elon Musk?
Today's Big Question The world's richest man has become 'disillusioned' with politics – but returning to his tech empire presents its own challenges
-
Trump's super-charged pardon push raises eyebrows and concerns
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Never shy about using his pardon ability for political leverage, Trump's spate of amnesty announcements suggests the White House is taking things to a new level
-
Elon Musk departs Trump administration
speed read The former DOGE head says he is ending his government work to spend more time on his companies