In the new book Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, the authors outlandishly claim General Mark Milley secretly took independent action to limit Trump and called China twice to ensure the US wasn’t planning a strike.
US General says he took top secret action to limit Trump’s military nuclear and strike abilities
In yet another book by Bob Woodward making outlandish claims against Donald Trump, along with fellow Washington Post reporter Robert Costa, the book says US Gen. Mark Milley took covert action to limit the former President.
According to the claims of the book, two days after the January 6 events at the US Capitol, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark A. Milley, President Donald Trump’s top military advisor at the time, took top-secret, independent action to limit Trump from potentially ordering a military strike or launching nuclear weapons, CNN reports.
US General takes independent action to assure China no threat exists
According to the authors, Gen. Milley was worried that Trump could “go rogue.”
This was the second time in the final months of the Trump administration that Milley was so fearful of President Trump’s actions sparking a war with China, that he felt impelled to take it upon himself to make an attempt to avert armed conflict, the Washington Post reported.
According to the book, Milley contacted his Chinese counterpart on two separate occasions, Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army, to assure him that the United States would not strike China. The first was on October 30, 2020, four days prior to the election. The other occurred on January 8, 2021, two days after the siege at the Capitol.
On the January 8 call, the New York Times reported, the book says Milley told his Chinese counterpart: “Things may look unsteady, but that’s the nature of democracy, General Li.”
“We are 100 percent steady,” Milley assured. “Everything’s fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes.”
What raised red flags?
The authors write that a review of intelligence reports by general Milley suggested that China believed the United States was preparing an attack. This assumption, according to the authors, was precipitated by tensions over military exercises being conducted in the South China Sea, as well as exacerbated by then-President Trump’s rhetoric toward China.
According to the authors, Milley was deeply shaken by the assault on the Capitol and “was certain that Trump had gone into a serious mental decline in the aftermath of the election.”
Allegedly, the book claims, Milley told his senior staff: “You never know what a president’s trigger point is.”
