President Biden Gives Strong Support For Embattled General Milley
President has "complete confidence in his leadership, his patriotism and his fidelity to our Constitution," press secretary says
To those on the political right, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has committed “treason” for his efforts in the dark days following the deadly January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol Building.
But, despite calls from Republicans to fire Gen Mark Milley, President Biden maintains full confidence in the 40-year, decorated Army veteran.
Milley's troubles began this week, as details emerged from a new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, of The Washington Post.
The book, titled Peril, sketches stunning new details about what was going on in official Washington DC after violent domestic terrorists supporting Trump rioted and stormed the Capitol Building in an attempt to overturn the legitimate and lawful certification of Joe Biden as the next president of the United States.
Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was said to have seriously worried for Trump's state of mind following the events of January 6, according to the book, titled Peril.
So much so, according to the book, that Milley took a call from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, agreeing with her that Trump was “crazy,” and worried that the then-president could start a war — or even try to use his authority over the nation's nuclear arsenal — in some desperate bid to remain in power.
Milley conducted back channel communications with his counterpart in China, according to the book, to reassure Chinese leadership that the United States was neither planning to attack China nor was it on the verge of collapse.
Milley went even further, Woodward and Costa say, by holding a secret meeting with military leadership at the Pentagon, telling them that he needed to be involved in any attack orders — including the use of the nuclear arsenal — which might come from Trump.
Although the political right has become enflamed by what they call “treason,” the Biden White House has given Milley its full support.
Asked directly by a reporter about Milley, and the actions he’s said to have undertaken in the book, Biden responded, “I have great confidence in General Milley.”
That support was elaborated upon during press secretary Jen Psaki's daily press briefing.
“I’m not going to add more, speak to anonymous, unconfirmed reports about conversations with limited context from here, but what I can assure you all of is that the president knows General Milley, he has been chairman of the Joint Chiefs for almost eight months of his presidency, they worked side by side through a range of international events, and the president has complete confidence in his leadership, his patriotism and his fidelity to our Constitution,” Psaki said.
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