‘You Should Resign’: Republicans Tear into Gen. Milley for Interviews with Political Book Authors

Republicans this week confronted Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley, the nation’s top military officer, on a series of interviews he gave to political book authors that has dragged him into the center of politics despite a tradition of military leaders trying to stay apolitical.

Even before the books were published this year, Milley had found himself in the middle of political debate last June after he walked with then-President Donald Trump across Lafayette Square to St. John’s Church as the president sought to show resolve a day after Black Lives Matters protesters almost breached the White House.

Milley later apologized publicly for walking with his commander in chief after the left criticized him for dragging the military into politics by virtue of his being there, despite hundreds of National Guard soldiers mobilized in D.C. and different cities in response to the protests.

Then came the books: First was Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost by Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender, which said Milley had allegedly “yelled” at Trump that he was not and would not be in charge of the response to protests. Trump denied the story.

Then came Peril by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, which alleged that Milley had spoken to his Chinese counterpart before and after the 2020 election to assure him that the U.S. was not going to attack China, and that he would give him a call if that were going to happen. Milley also allegedly told senior military leaders not to follow orders from Trump to launch any attacks unless he were notified personally, essentially undermining the president’s authority, although, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he is not in the chain of command.

Until this week, Milley — either himself or through spokespersons — did not deny any of the allegations but simply said he would not address them. On Tuesday and Wednesday, however, members of Congress had the opportunity to confront him.

Milley first tried to address the allegations in his opening remarks, claiming he was just doing his job and that there was nothing wrong with what he did. Republicans did not seem to buy it.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) forced Milley to admit that he personally spoke to Woodward, Leonnig, Rucker, and Bender for their books — giving those allegations credibility. Milley claimed that he had not read any of the books and could not say whether he was accurately portrayed.

Marine veteran Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) was incredulous that Milley had said he would give the Chinese a heads up if the U.S. were to attack it. “You really think the Chinese Communist Party, head of their — of the PLA would call and say, ‘Hey, General, FYI, we’re going to get ready to invade Taiwan. I just thought I’d give you a heads up.’ Do you think you — you honestly think that?”

Milley first implied he was mischaracterized in the book, but then admitted to Sullivan he told his Chinese counterpart, “I said, ‘I’ll probably call you. Everybody will be calling you.'”

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) asked why talking to a reporter writing a book about a prior administration would be part of his job description. Milley said, “I think it’s very, very important to make sure that senior officials talk to the media and all of its various forms in order to explain what we’re doing.”

Scott responded, “You have a full-time job and then you go and talk about the prior administration. I just don’t get it. It doesn’t make any sense to me. If the media wants to ask you about what we’re doing right now, something like that, I get it. But the prior administration, why would you do that?”

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) accused Milley of wasting time on books instead of paying attention to Afghanistan. He pointed out that former U.S. commander in Afghanistan Gen. Austin Miller testified that he warned Milley as early as March of a rapid erosion of the military situation in Afghanistan. Hawley continued:

Now, at the same time, however, in June, you were saying, and I quote you now, ‘An outright takeover by the Taliban is unlikely.’ That’s at a Armed Services Committee meeting in the House, June 23rd. In July, you said the Afghan security forces have the capacity to sufficiently fight and defend their country.

You also said that they were well-equipped. On June 17th, you told the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Afghan government had a 325,000 to 350,000-person security force, which we now know is a drastic overestimate. A few days later, you lowered that to 300,000, which we still know is a drastic overestimate.

Your generals on the ground, your commander on the ground is saying one thing: The Taliban has a massive offensive underway from May 1st on, but yet you seem to — you told us very different things in public. How do you reconcile those things? What am I missing?

Hawley added, “It seems to me that you put a high priority on making sure that you were favorably portrayed by the D.C. press corps. You spent a lot of time doing that. Fair enough if that’s your priority. But at the same time, we had a rapidly deteriorating, frankly disastrous, situation in Afghanistan, which resulted in the death of 13 soldiers, including one from my home state, hundreds of civilians, and hundreds of Americans left behind.”

He concluded, “General, I think you should resign. Secretary Austin, I think you should resign. I think this mission was a catastrophe. I think there’s no other way to say it, and there has to be accountability. I respectfully submit it should begin with you.”

The next day, members of the House ripped into him.

Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) quoted a transcript of Pelosi calling Trump “crazy for a long time,” and Milley saying, “Madam Speaker, I agree with you on everything.” He asked Milley, “If you’re the principal adviser to the president and she said that to you, do you think that you were doing service to a president by agreeing with the speaker that your commander in chief is crazy?”

Milley claimed he was not agreeing with her on Trump’s mental health.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) also told Milley that he has let down people who wear the uniform. “You spent more time with Bob Woodward on this book than you spent analyzing the very likely prospect that the Afghanistan government was going to fall immediately to the Taliban,” he said.

“You’ve let down people who wear the uniform in my district and all around the country, and you are far more interested in what your perception is and how people think about you in insider Washington books than you care about winning,” he added.

Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks (R-IN) asked Milley what compelled him to spend a significant amount of time talking to political book authors and political reporters. Milley said he believed that part of his job to be transparent and that he believes in a free press.

Banks then asked Milley point blank, “What happens when a military general becomes a political figure? You would agree that’s dangerous?”

Milley agreed that it was dangerous and claimed he had done his best to remain personally apolitical.

“I think it’s dangerous, and I have done my best to remain personally apolitical and to try to keep the military out of actual domestic politics,” he responded.

Milley said he was not embarrassed or regretful he spoke to Woodward, but said he was “concerned that there is mischaracterizations of me becoming very politicized as an individual and that it’s my willingness to become politicized, which is not true.”

“I am trying to stay apolitical and I believe I am. That’s part of my professional ethic, and I’m trying to keep the military, the actual military out of actual domestic politics. I think that’s critical,” he added.

Despite saying he believes in a “free press,” he did not deny to Banks jotting down two conservative media outlets on a list along with “Nazis” and “Oath Keepers” as responsible for January 6, as alleged in Peril.

“I’m not recalling this conversation at all,” he said.

However, he would not say Woodward lied. “I don’t know, I don’t recall any conversation about Epoch Times,” he said.

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) asked if Milley would resign, noting that as the Taliban secured gains, Milley was talking about “white rage”:

Between the 18th and the 21st of June, in just four days, 21 districts in nine provinces fell to the Taliban and the Afghan Security Forces quickly surrendered and abandoned their post … just two days prior to when these provinces fell, you were here in our committee on June 23rd. You sat before this committee and you listed some of your concerns that we talked in-depth about. One was defending critical race theory in the military, telling us you want to understand white rage, telling us how offended you were to be labeled as woke, and worrying about what caused American civilians to enter the Capitol on January 6.

I submit to you that perhaps we would not have had 13 servicemembers and hundreds of Afghans killed, 18 servicemembers wounded, and countless U.S. citizens abandoned and left as Taliban hostages if you had been more focused on your duty to this country instead of defending and pandering to the Biden administration’s woke social experiment with the United States military, doing book interviews, and colluding with Chinese military officials.

…

It has become abundantly clear that the American people have completely lost confidence in your ability to do your job. General Milley, will you now resign?

Milley responded, “I serve at the pleasure of the president, Mr. Jackson.”

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