WASHINGTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - The top U.S. general secretly called his Chinese counterpart twice over concerns then-President Donald Trump could spark a war with China as his potential election loss loomed and in its aftermath, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday. U.S. General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called General Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army on Oct. 30, 2020 - four days before the election - and again on Jan. 8, two days after Trump supporters led a deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, the newspaper reported. In the calls, Milley sought to assure Li the United States was stable and not going to attack and, if there were to be an attack, he would alert his counterpart ahead of time, the report said. The report was based on "Peril," a new book by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, which they said relied on interviews with 200 sources and is due to be released next week. Trump, in a statement, cast doubt in the story, calling it "fabricated." He said if the story was true Milley should be tried for treason. "For the record, I never even thought of attacking China," Trump said. Milley's office declined to comment. Republican Senator Marco Rubio called on President Joe Biden, a Democrat, to immediately fire Milley. "I do not need to tell of you the dangers posed by senior military officers leaking classified information on U.S. military operations, but I will underscore that such subversion undermines the President’s ability to negotiate and leverage one of this nation’s instruments of national power in his interactions with foreign nations," Rubio said in a letter to Biden. Asked about the Washington Post report, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment and referred questions to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Department. Trump, a Republican, named Milley to the top military post in 2018 but began criticizing him, as well as other appointees and former staffers, after losing the presidential election to Biden in November 2020. The Washington Post reported that Milley was motivated to contact Beijing the second time in part due to a Jan. 8 call with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had asked the general what safeguards were in place to prevent an "unstable president" from launching a nuclear strike. "He's crazy. You know he's crazy," Pelosi told Milley, the newspaper reported, citing a transcript of the call. According to the cited call transcript, the general replied, "I agree with you on everything." https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us...ina-twice-trump-term-ended-report-2021-09-14/
It would mutually benefit both countries as neither one wants to wage war with another. Do you sincerely believe that Miley would do this because he is some secret CCP agent doing their bidding or do you have a more rational take that maybe he just wanted to de-escalate a situation where a unhinge maniac who believes he won a election he lost doesn't want to leave office and might do lasting damage before he is forced out?
Its funny how avoiding the final stage of mutually assured destruction turns out to not be a zero sum game.
According to the report, the call happened before the election. Trump was arguably somewhat peaceful during his presidency.
Trump was claiming fraud preemptively before election night. Every same person knew he was going to not gracefully concede.
The communication with China isn't really shocking. The US military cooperated with the Soviet military for decades. It was common protocol to have open communication between both militaries to ensure that war didn't break out unnecessarily. Communication between militaries is a good thing. You want to be able to minimize the odds of accidental war (especially with nuclear weapons). Now Milley asserting that all military actions needed his approval was definitely a major break in protocol but this is all uncharted waters. Woodward highlights just how unhinged Trump was after the election so I can understand Milley's fears.
Miley is a hero!!! Anyone still still supporting Trump after the attack on the capital is traitor in my book.
I would commit treason myself it meant saving the lives of millions including those that I love from a nuclear strike. Hell I might just do it alone if it prevented a shooting war with China (although hard to tell what war with China really means). This story says everything about how dangerous the people who knew him best believed Trump was in those final weeks and should be a moment for Republicans like @Astrodome to say that they will not support the Republican Party if they again nominate Trump and continue to worship him as a cleric. Sadly what Milley did here will be seen more through a partisan lens on both sides instead of seeing the truth which is we can never let it get that bad again. That goes for Biden too if he suffered an illness or declined rapidly to the point where he could not be trusted to serve. I do trust Ron Klain to do the right thing though where I do not trust autocrat fascists like Stephen Miller and crooks like Jared Kushner. We need to read this and learn more than anything it’s time to stop F-ing around with our democracy.
Trump's own defense secretary that he appointed himself he was really sad that Trump is the first president in his lifetime that purposely tries to divide this nation. Like I don't think at least in my lifetime or it is century or the 20th century a president's own defense secretary or cabinet member was this harsh and criticism of the president they were appointed by.
WP has more details. “The first call was prompted by Milley’s review of intelligence suggesting the Chinese believed the United States was preparing to attack. That belief, the authors write, was based on tensions over military exercises in the South China Sea, and deepened by Trump’s belligerent rhetoric toward China.” (I’m sure this was about the blaming of covid on China) The 2nd call… mental decline, unstable, nuke fear “In the second call, placed to address Chinese fears about the events of Jan. 6, Li wasn’t as easily assuaged, even after Milley promised him, “We are 100 percent steady. Everything’s fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes.” Li remained rattled, and Milley, who did not relay the conversation to Trump, according to the book, understood why. The chairman, 62 at the time and chosen by Trump in 2018, believed the president had suffered a mental decline after the election, the authors write, a view he communicated to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a phone call on Jan. 8.He agreed with her evaluation that Trump was unstable, according to a call transcript obtained by the authors. Believing that China could lash out if it felt at risk from an unpredictable and vengeful American president, Milley took action. The same day, he called the admiral overseeing the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the military unit responsible for Asia and the Pacific region, and recommended postponing the military exercises, according to the book. The admiral complied. Milley also summoned senior officers to review the procedures for launching nuclear weapons, saying the president alone could give the order — but, crucially, that he, Milley, also had to be involved. Looking each in the eye, Milley asked the officers to affirm that they had understood, the authors write, in what he considered an “oath.” The chairman knew that he was “pulling a Schlesinger,” the authors write, resorting to measures resembling the ones taken in August 1974 by James R. Schlesinger, the defense secretary at the time. Schlesinger told military officials to check with him and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs before carrying out orders from President Richard M. Nixon, who was facing impeachment at the time. Though Milley went furthest in seeking to stave off a national security crisis, his alarm was shared throughout the highest ranks of the administration, the authors reveal. CIA Director Gina Haspel, for instance, reportedly told Milley, “We are on the way to a right-wing coup.”
I don’t know if it’s treason or not, but sounds to me like he did the right, sensible thing. If that’s treason, I give him all the more credit for doing the right thing despite the risks he might face.
Just for a moment lets assume this is true (and I would assume that Bob Woodward will swear it's what he learned). WTF was Woodward doing sitting on this story for the months he must have known?
