After revelations surfaced on Tuesday that General Mark Milley, Biden’s Chairman of the Joint Chief’s of Staff, allegedly undermined President Trump by speaking to his Chinese counterpart, saying that he would warn China about any imminent attack, the White House responded will full confidence in the general.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked about the revelations, from Bob Woodward and Robert Costa’s upcoming book Peril. In defense of Milley, Psaki intoned the Capitol riot of January 6, saying that President Trump, “during this period of time, fomented unrest leading to an insurrection and an attack on our nation’s capital on January 6, which you all have covered extensively, of course, one of the darkest days in our nation’s history.”
“Near the end of the Trump presidency, the Chairman nearly had two conversations with his Chinese counterpart, promising the countries would not go to war and that he would give an early warning if something were to happen. In a statement just minutes ago, Chairman Milley did not speak this account on this,” a reporter said.
“Does the President feel that these calls were appropriate? Does he have confidence in the chairman and some Republican senators have called for Germany to be dismissed? Is he going to keep his job?”
“Well, I saw the statement, of course, that the Department of Defense or I should say the Joint Chiefs spokesperson, just released minute and released minutes ago. I’m not going to add more speak to anonymous unconfirmed reports about conversations with limited context from here,” Psaki said.
“But what I can assure you all of is that the President knows general Milley, he has been Chairman of the Joint Chiefs for almost eight months of his presidency, they’ve worked side by side through a range of international events.
“And the President has complete confidence in his leadership, his patriotism, and his fidelity to our Constitution.
“Since you gave me the opportunity,” Psaki went on, “I just wanted to add, I think it’s important to consider some of the context context of this period in time of time in history that we’re discussing, and is outlined are covered in portions of this book.
“Beyond reports in this book, there’s been widespread reporting and commentary from members of his own cabinet, the former president’s cabinet, I should say, including high ranking national security officials questioning the former president stability, his behavior and his suitability to oversee the national security of the United States,” Psaki said.
Later Wednesday afternoon, Biden also expressed his utmost confidence in the General.
The FBI, to date, has found “scant evidence” that there was a coordinated plot to overthrow government on January 6, and no one who participated in the riot was charged with insurrection.
