Trump calls Milley a 'weak sister' who was 'too afraid to come and talk to me' and DENIES the General's claims he authorized the secret 'heads-up' calls to China
Former President Trump blasted Joint chiefs of staff chairman Gen. Mark Milley as 'weak' and 'too afraid' to talk to him after the general admitted in congressional testimony on Wednesday to calling China behind Trump's back.
Milley admitted to calling the Chinese both in January after the Capitol riot on Jan. 8 and in October 2020 to assure them the US would not attack, and promising to give them a heads-up if Trump were going to take any rogue action in his final days in office.
Trump, in a radio interview on the 'The Jason Rantz Show,' said that China was not worried about a nuclear attack from the US but was worried about the tariffs he was imposing.
'Nobody has to get in between me and negotiations,' the former president said of Milley's call.
'China was very concerned about what I was doing economically and nobody has to get in and say, 'Oh, don't worry about things, things will be just fine,'' Trump said. 'Not good. Not appropriate.'
Trump even said that the joint chiefs chairman's actions may have been treasonous.
'Well, I would certainly say it borders on it [treason] because I didn't know about it, and I'm the one that's supposed to know about it,' Trump said.
'He was afraid to come in and talk to me,' Trump added. 'He was a weak sister, I found that out. He was a weak man.'
The former president appointed Milley for the Joint Chiefs chairman role and he was confirmed in September 2019.
'Nobody has to get in between me and negotiations,' the former president said of Milley's call
The bombshell report of Milley's call was first released in 'Peril,' a new tell-all by Bob Woodward and Robert Acosta, before Milley admitted to calling Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People's Liberation Army, in both October 2020 and January 2021 before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.
'I was communicating to my Chinese counterpart - on instructions, by the way - to deescalate the situation. And I told him that we are not going to attack. President Trump has no intent to attack, and I told him that repeatedly, and I told him if there was going to be an attack, there will be plenty of communications going back and forth, your Intel system will pick it up.
'I said, I'll probably call you. Everybody will call you. We're not going to attack you, just settle down, it is not going to happen. I did it twice, in October and January.'
'I was communicating to my Chinese counterpart - on instructions, by the way - to deescalate the situation. And I told him that we are not going to attack,' Milley said of the China call
Milley admitted to calling Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People's Liberation Army, in both October 2020 and January 2021 before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday
'With respect to the Chinese calls, I routinely communicated with my counterpart General Li with the knowledge and coordination of civilian oversight,' Milley said in his opening remarks.
He said the calls are part of his job and that such military-to-military communications are critical to prevent war between great powers that possess nuclear weapons.
'The calls on 30 October and 8 January were coordinated before and after with Secretary Esper and Acting Secretary Miller's staffs and the interagency. The specific purpose of the October and January calls were generated by concerning intelligence, which caused us to believe the Chinese were worried about an attack on them by the United States,' Milley said.
'I know, I am certain that President Trump did not intend to attack the Chinese, and it is my directed responsibility and it is my directed responsibility - and it was my directed responsibility by the secretary - to convey that intent to the Chinese.'
He added, 'My task at that time was to de-escalate.'
Milley said he told as much to Beijing during both calls.
'My message again, was consistent: Stay calm, steady and de-escalate. We are not going to attack you,' he said.
Milley said the first call, days before the 2020 election, was made at then-Defense Secretary Esper's direction. Eight people sat in on the call on Milley's side and he said he 'read out the call within 30 minutes of the call ending.
'On 31 December, the Chinese requested another call with me,' Milley said.
He claimed the call was coordinated by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia-Pacific Policy.
Milley also said he informed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows after the call took place.
'Soon after that, I attended a meeting with Acting Secretary Miller and briefed him on the call,' the general said.
Earlier this week Trump hit Milley over his handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal.
'No wonder the Afghanistan withdrawal was such a disaster,' Trump said in a statement.
'"General" Milley spent all of his time talking to these Fake Book writers. That's not a Soldier or General, that's a Public Relations agent.'
'America will continue losing with Milley and woke television Generals who are only looking to be stars!'
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