Pentagon pushes back against NBC's report that Esper 'prepared a resignation letter'

The Pentagon is pushing back against a report from NBC News that Defense Secretary Mark Esper has "prepared a resignation letter" following the presidential election. 

In a report published Thursday afternoon, NBC cited three unnamed "current defense officials" who alleged that Esper "prepared his letter because he is one of the Cabinet officials long expected to be pushed out after the election."

However, the reporting received a forceful response later in the evening from Jonathan Hoffman, assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.

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"The NBC story is inaccurate and misleading in many ways," Hoffman tweeted. "To be clear, Secretary of Defense Esper has no plans to resign, nor has he been asked to submit a letter of resignation."

Hoffman added, "He continues to serve the nation as the Secretary of Defense at the pleasure of the President and is working on the irreversible implementation of the National Defense Strategy."

Fox News reached out to NBC News for comment. 

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A senior White House official previously told Fox News that President Trump was planning to remove FBI Director Christopher Wray from his post if the president defeats Democratic nominee Joe Biden. The official also said that Defense Secretary Mark Esper could also be on the way out but the official said that it's unclear if he'll resign or if the president will remove him."

Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly contributed to this report.