Tuesday on CBS’s “The Late Show,” journalist Bob Woodward discussed his book, “Peril,” which details the transition from President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.
According to Woodward, the “one courageous person” in Trump’s circle who did something was Gen. Mark Milley, who reportedly operated behind the president’s back and even told China he would warn them ahead of an attack.
“How many of the people talking to you for this book are trying to rehabilitate their own image by saying, ‘I always thought it was bad. I pushed back?'” host Stephen Colbert asked Woodward.
“Some, yes, no question about that. And the one courageous person who did something was General Milley,” Woodward said to applause. “He said, ‘I am going to…’ I mean, there is a scene in the book, which took our breaths away, I think, when Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House, second in line for the presidency, calls General Milley, and we have a transcript of it, and says, ‘General Milley, you know Trump is crazy. He is, you know, he is dangerously crazy. How are we going to control nuclear weapons?’ And Milley says, “Oh, don’t worry, we have procedures,’ and so forth. And she is pounding on him real hard. And it’s a classic Washington moment phone call. And to have a transcript. So you see not the b.s., but what they’re really saying to each other. And then after the call, Milley thinks, ‘You know, she’s right. We better worry about Trump.’ And so he calls in the colonels and one-star generals and admirals into his office from the War Room in the Pentagon … and he says, ‘All right, we have these procedures. Don’t take a call from the president without me being involved.'”
He added, “He’s not seizing power. He’s putting in precautions to make sure if Trump’s going to blow up the world or do something that’s against American interest or, in fact, against Trump’s interest, he’s going at least be there at the table saying, ‘No.'”
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