Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made secret calls to his Chinese counterpart in the final days of the Trump administration out of hysteria that President Donald Trump might order an attack.
Milley made two phone calls to Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army, according to an excerpt published Tuesday from a new book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward and national political reporter Robert Costa titled “Peril.” One call occurred on Oct. 30, 2020 — four days before the November election — and one on Jan. 8 of this year, two days after the Capitol riot by a mob of Trump supporters. In each, Milley assured the Chinese the United States was not preparing to strike.
“General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay,” Milley reportedly told Zuocheng in October. “We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you.”
According to Woodward and Acosta, Milley even pledged to alert the Chinese in advance of an impending strike.
“General Li, you and I have known each other for now five years. If we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise,” Milley allegedly said.
read more:
Replies