he top US general was so worried in early January that Donald Trump was out of control that he took secret action to stop the outgoing president from sparking a war with China, consistent with a replacement book.
Joint Chiefs Chair General Mark Milley ordered aides to not act immediately on any move by Trump to use US nuclear forces, and he called a Chinese general to reassure Beijing, presidential chronicler Bob Woodward and co-author Robert Costa wrote in their soon-to-be-released book.
The Washington Post — Woodward’s and Costa’s employer — and other media on Tuesday reported excerpts from the book “Peril,” depicting Milley as organizing the Pentagon and Intelligence Community to resist any move by Trump to ratchet up tensions with China or Iran after he lost the November 2020 presidential election.
Milley called Chinese counterpart General Li Zuocheng twice, on October 30 just before Trump’s election defeat, and on January 8, two days after Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol, to reassure him that the Republican president’s anti-China rhetoric couldn’t translate into action .
“General Li, i would like to assure you that the American government is stable and everything goes to be okay,” Milley told Li within the October call, Woodward and Costa write. “We aren’t getting to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you,” Milley said.
NUCLEAR STRIKE WORRIES
Two months later, Milley used the key back-channel with Li again after the US Capitol riot, amid concerns both in Beijing and Washington that Trump was unstable. “We are one hundred pc steady. Everything’s fine. But democracy are often sloppy sometimes,” Milley told Li, consistent with the book.
To reassure the Chinese, Milley went thus far on have the Pentagon’s Indo-Pacific Command postpone military exercises that Beijing may need viewed as a possible threat.
Separately, Milley told his top staff that if Trump sought to exercise his power to order a nuclear strike, that that they had to tell him first.
And Milley discussed with other top officials, including CIA director Gina Haspel and National Security Agency head Paul Nakasone, the necessity to be vigilant amid concerns Trump could act irrationally. Haspel said they were during a “highly dangerous situation.”
Some might contend that Milley had overstepped his authority and brought extraordinary power for himself,” the authors wrote.
But he believed he was acting correctly “to ensure there was no historic rupture within the international order, no accidental war with China or others, and no use of nuclear weapons,” they said.
The Pentagon declined to discuss the book’s claims. Trump lashed out on Tuesday, calling Milley a crude epithet and blaming him for the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August.
“I assume that he would be tried for treason therein he would are handling his Chinese counterpart behind the president’s back,” Trump said during a statement.
‘HE’S CRAZY’
Milley’s second Li call came after the highest lawmaker in Congress, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, phoned Milley about Trump’s state of mind and his rejection — held to the present day — of President Joe Biden’s election victory.
Two days earlier, goaded on by Trump, many supporters violently stormed Congress, forcing lawmakers to cancel a session meant to certify Biden’s victory and causing lawmakers of both parties to escape .
Woodward and Costa obtained a transcript of the Pelosi call. “What precautions are available to stop an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or from accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike?” Pelosi asked.
“If they couldn’t even stop him from an assault on the Capitol, who even knows what else he may do?” she said. “He’s crazy. you recognize he’s crazy… and what he did yesterday is further evidence of his craziness.”
The system had “a lot of checks” to forestall extreme behavior by the president, Milley responded. Nevertheless, he said, “I accept as true with you on everything.”
Republican lawmakers quickly used the reports to attack Milley, with senior Senator Marco Rubio calling for Biden to fireside the overall .
