Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and retired Gen. Mark Milley, who reportedly once described President-elect Donald Trump as “fascist to the core,” has shifted his tone, now expressing confidence that the U.S. will remain strong under Trump’s leadership. Many of Trump’s fiercest critics, who previously warned of threats to democracy under his administration, have softened their rhetoric, now acknowledging that America will persevere following his election victory.
Milley’s alleged remarks about Trump being “fascist” and “the most dangerous person to this country,” as detailed in an upcoming book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward, seemed to take a backseat during his recent comments about the country’s resilience at a public event, Fox News reported. “The bottom line is to breathe deep; America’s going to be okay,” he told MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle at a Pallas Foundation event shown on the network. “There is a lot of waves out there, but this is a big, strong country. 380 million people. Great institutions, great people, great workforce, and a great younger cohort of people that are gonna protect America.”
MSNBC also aired footage of Milley speaking with one of their hosts at the same event, where he noted that the Pentagon has a longstanding tradition of implementing reforms introduced by incoming Secretaries of Defense. “Every single Secretary of Defense has come in with the idea of ‘reforming’ the Pentagon. It is extraordinarily difficult and it takes, in my view — first of all, it takes mature leadership and it takes an alliance, or an alignment, I should say, between the Hill, the senators and congressmen up on the Hill who pass the laws,” he said. Milley argued that incoming Trump allies could bring beneficial reforms to the Pentagon or reduce it to destruction.
“If all you’re going to do is come in with a wrecking ball and just blow things apart, then what you’re going to get is rubble. And if that’s what you want, that’s awesome if you want rubble, but that’s not going to defend the United States,” he said. Milley added, “So we absolutely have to transform the Pentagon and it’s going to take an effort. And industry-outside guys like Elon, Vivek, and whoever — sure, they can be very helpful, but they — it has to be done correctly.”
In September, meanwhile, several interviews that were conducted following the January 6th, 2021, Capitol breach have provided fresh insights into Trump’s actions regarding the response to the unrest, testimony that also came from Milley. Statements released by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) on Thursday reveals that Trump had initially requested additional support from the National Guard or active-duty troops to manage the situation and protect lawmakers during the certification of the 2020 election results, but his request was denied.
The disclosure came while investigators questioned now-retired Milley, who confirmed to the Pentagon inspector general in 2021 that Trump had pre-approved the deployment in an Oval Office meeting. Rep. Loudermilk shared these findings from the House GOP’s ongoing investigation with Just The News. “The President just says, ‘Hey look at this. It’s going to be a large amount of protesters come in here on the 6th, and make sure that you have sufficient National Guard or Soldiers to make sure it’s a safe event,’”
Milley told the inspector general during the Pentagon’s J6 investigation. He added that then-acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller assured Trump that the Pentagon had protocol in place to keep the peace in Washington, D.C. that day. “Miller responds by saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got a plan, and we’ve got it covered.’ And that’s about it,” Milley recalled.
“‘Just be sure it’s safe,’” Milley claims Trump told his team. “It was just what I just described, which was, ‘Hey, I don’t care if you use Guard, or soldiers, active-duty soldiers, do whatever you have to do.’” Milley participated in two interviews in 2021, one on April 8th and another on April 16th. Loudermilk obtained the transcripts of these interviews as part of a GOP-led investigation.
According to Milley, the interagency plan involved placing National Guardsmen on the streets to direct traffic rather than to guard the Capitol building. This plan was approved by Democratic D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Just the News noted. “The operational plan was this, let’s take the D.C. National Guard, keep them away from the Capitol. Let’s put — the request, it wasn’t my request, Bowser and her Metropolitan Police Department were like ‘Let’s put D.C. National Guard on traffic control points and at the Metro stations to free up credentialed law-enforcement officers that can go out and arrest people,’” Milley explained, admitting there was a “political calculation” to keep troops away from Congress.
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