A new book alleges Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley made secret phone calls to Chinese officials on multiple occasions. Now, Trump’s former acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller is speaking out saying that did not and would not have approved the alleged calls and says that if the allegations are proven true they would be a “disgraceful and unprecedented act of insubordination.”
Fox News reports:
“The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the highest-ranking military officer whose sole role is providing military-specific advice to the president, and by law is prohibited from exercising executive authority to command forces,” Miller said. “The chain of command runs from the President to the Secretary of Defense, not through the Chairman.”
Miller went on to reference the allegations, which are included in the book “Peril,” co-written by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, that Milley made two secret phone calls, both to his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army. The book alleges that the phone calls took place prior to the 2020 presidential election, on Oct. 30, 2020, and then two days after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, on Jan. 8, 2021.
The book “Peril,” co-written by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa claims Gen. Milley made secret calls to Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army in October and again on Jan. 8th, 2021. Woodward and Costa claim Milley made the calls to Li to assure him that the United States was not planning an attack on China.
“We are 100% steady. Everything’s fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes,” Gen. Milley said according to the book.
“If the reporting in Woodward’s book is accurate, it represents a disgraceful and unprecedented act of insubordination by the Nation’s top military officer,” Miller said, adding that if the story of Milley’s “histrionic outbursts and unsanctioned, anti-Constitutional involvement in foreign policy prove true, he must resign immediately or be fired by the Secretary of Defense to guarantee the sanctity of the officer corps.”
“Pursuit of partisan politics and individual self-interests are a violation of an officer’s sacred duty and have no place in the United States military,” Miller said, adding that “a lesser ranking officer accused of such behavior would immediately be relieved of duty pending a thorough and independent investigation.”
Republican lawmakers, including former President Trump, have said that if the allegation against Milley is proven true he should immediately resign and even possibly be tried for treason.
