Americans are not happy with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff this week, but it doesn’t appear as though he gives a hoot.
In a new book entitled Peril, Bob Woodward and Robert Costa detail the final few weeks of former President Trump’s first term in the White House, and all of the tumult that came along with it.
One of the episodes that was mentioned in the book included a call between General Mark Milley, the aforementioned JCOS head, and his counterpart in Beijing. Milley was said to be making the call to assure the Chinese that Donald Trump would not launch an attack against and, that if the Commander in Chief did, Milley would warn the CCP.
This infuriated the nation, with Milley garnering a reputation as some sort of would-be usurper.
Now, after the Pentagon declined to speak on the subject, General Milley has made a statement.
The top U.S. military officer said Friday that calls he made to his Chinese counterpart in the final stormy months of Donald Trump’s presidency were “perfectly within the duties and responsibilities” of his job.
In his first public comments on the conversations, Gen. Mark Milley said such calls are “routine” and were done “to reassure both allies and adversaries in this case in order to ensure strategic stability.” The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke to The Associated Press and another reporter traveling with him to Europe.
Milley will be explaining further, later.
“I think it’s best that I reserve my comments on the record until I do that in front of the lawmakers who have the lawful responsibility to oversee the U.S. military,” Milley said. “I’ll go into any level of detail Congress wants to go into in a couple of weeks.”
Miley’s purported behavior has conjured calls for his resignation, a court martial, and charges of treason.
