Will General Mark Milley Be Court Martialed?

             Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Roberta Costa have started a firestorm with their new book, Peril. According to an excerpt in the Washington Post, the authors made a statement about General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, phoning his Chinese counterpart, General Li Zuocheng, on October 30, 2020, to warn him about a possible military conflict being created by then-President Donald Trump. The authors also claim that Milley made a second call to Li on January 8, 2021, to assure him that the United States did not plan to attack China. The calls were never mentioned to Trump.

            If Woodward and Costa are being truthful in their book, Milley may be guilty of going outside the chain of command and could be charged with treason. On Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” today, Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) spoke about the seriousness of the claim. 

It should be investigated immediately, today, he should be questioned under oath, if not with a polygraph test, whether it happened. If it happened, he should be immediately relieved of his duties and court-martialed.

You have to find out if it’s true. This is innuendo and rumor and propaganda, perhaps. But, if it is true, he absolutely immediately needs to be removed.

And he needs to be asked, did you call the Chinese government in defiance to your commands? Di you warn them or insinuate to them that the president might attack them? That’s incredibly dangerous to the country, to the world and, if true, treasonous.

If we have a general calling China and saying, “Our president is liable to unleash nuclear weapons on you or unleash an attack on you,” that makes any kind of accidental war even more likely by him ginning up the game. It’s a terrible thing, very dangerous, but just by defying the chain of command it gets outside of what we have as a constitutional republic.

            This claim could not come at a worse time for Milley whose resignation is “under fire for last month’s hasty and deadly U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan.” Of course, he has denied the claims that he “undermined civilian control of the military.” Even Democrats and other enemies of Trump are calling for Milley’s resignation and/or court-martial if the claim is true. An investigation should be held immediately because Milley either needs to be removed from office, or his reputation saved.