Gen. Mark Milley, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers, mentioned that he’s taking acceptable measures to make sure his security and that of his household after former President Donald Trump attacked the highest army chief by suggesting he’s a traitor who deserves to be executed.
Trump went after the Military normal Friday in a Fact Social submit, accusing Milley of being a “Woke prepare wreck” who went behind his again to speak with China within the last months of the previous president’s administration. Milley, who was nominated to the place by Trump, is about to depart his submit on the finish of this month.
“This man turned out to be a Woke prepare wreck who, if the Faux Information reporting is appropriate, was really coping with China to present them a heads up on the pondering of the President of the USA,” the 2024 Republican front-runner posted. “That is an act so egregious that, in occasions passed by, the punishment would have been DEATH! A struggle between China and the USA might have been the results of this treasonous act.”
In an interview this week with Norah O’Donnell for CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Milley mentioned he stands by his communications with China and wished Trump had not posted that assault on him Friday.
“As a lot as these feedback are directed at me, it’s additionally directed on the establishment of the army. And there’s 2.1 million of us in uniform, and the American folks can take it to the financial institution that each one of us, each single one in every of us, from personal to normal, are loyal to that Structure and can by no means flip our again on it it doesn’t matter what,” he mentioned within the clip launched by CBS on Wednesday. “It doesn’t matter what the threats, it doesn’t matter what the humiliation, it doesn’t matter what.”
“If we’re keen to die for that doc … then we’re keen to stay for it, too,” he continued. “So I’m not going to remark immediately on these issues. However I can let you know that this army, this soldier, me, won’t ever flip my again on the Structure.”
Milley’s calls to his Chinese language counterpart have been revealed in “Peril,” a guide in regards to the Trump administration by reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. The guide describes how close to the top of the Trump administration, Milley assured Gen. Li Zuocheng of the Individuals’s Liberation Military in two calls that the U.S. wouldn’t launch an assault towards China.
In 2021, Milley defended the calls by saying they have been “completely inside the duties and duties” of his job and have been made “to reassure each allies and adversaries on this case so as to guarantee strategic stability.” Milley instructed O’Donnell that there was “completely” nothing treasonous in regards to the calls.
The guide additionally highlighted that Milley was reportedly involved that Trump would try an influence seize over the 2020 presidential election outcomes. When testifying earlier than the Home choose committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, Milley agreed with then-Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi that Trump was “loopy” and guaranteed the Democratic chief that the nation’s nuclear codes have been secure throughout his administration.
Trump, who by no means served within the army and prevented the Vietnam Battle draft, has an extended historical past of disparaging U.S. veterans. He has described fallen troops as “suckers” and known as the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) a “fucking loser” for turning into a prisoner of struggle. Throughout Milley’s 2019 welcome ceremony, Trump demanded to know why a wounded veteran was invited to carry out “God Bless America” when “nobody desires to see that.”
