Retired General, 26 Other GOP Representatives Call For Military Probe Of Mark Milley For Treason

Quote:Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry, a retired brigadier general in the U.S. military, and 26 other Republicans penned a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin asking him to conduct an Article 15-6 investigation into Gen. Mark Milley’s potentially treasonous phone calls.

“We are gravely concerned with General (GEN) Mark Milley’s ability to exercise his duties and responsibilities as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In this recent case, our specific concerns involve reports from 14 September 2021, which indicate that GEN Milley blatantly disregarded the concept of civilian control of the military, and gave aid and comfort to America’s principal adversary, the Chinese Communist Party,” the legislators wrote. “We request a formal AR 15-6 Investigation commence immediately with regard to these allegations.”

Milley reportedly called Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army twice while former President Donald Trump was still in office to reassure the communist military authority that the United States did not have plans to attack China.

This behavior, the legislators continued, is unacceptable and “treasonous.”

“To conspire with a communist, malfeasant, hostile, and genocidal government regarding our intentions — or lack thereof — with utter disregard to the implications of said ‘promise’ on our national security or our Service Members, is nothing short of craven (at best) and treasonous,” the letter stated.

The Republicans also criticized the corporate media for reporting “this story as if America were rendered a great service by GEN Milley, as if he simply were trying to ward off the supposedly unpredictable behavior of the elected president of the United States, Donald J. Trump.”

“To be clear, however, if Mr. Woodward’saccount is true, GEN Milley’s pledge to China is nothing less than outright treason,” the letter continues.

The legislators asked Austin to suspend the general’s security clearance until there is a full investigation into the issue.

A Joint Staff spokesman for Milley has written off Milley’s behavior as “regular” and said “these conversations remain vital to improving mutual understanding of U.S. national security interests, reducing tensions, providing clarity and avoiding unintended consequences or conflict.”

Growing Horde Of GOP Lawmakers Calls For Milley To Be Investigated And Fired

Quote:It’s been two days since news broke that Gen. Mark Milley might have committed treason, and the chorus of Republican leaders calling for a thorough investigation into the matter is growing — with many of them also calling for his immediate resignation or termination.

These calls follow a report out Tuesday in The Washington Post about the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It contained an excerpt from the forthcoming book “Peril” by the Post’s associate editor Bob Woodward and national political reporter Bob Costa. In it, the two alleged that Milley made a pair of secret phone calls to his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army, in the final days of the Trump administration in which he gave away information about the United States’ military strategy. This included telling the foreign adversary that the United States was not preparing to strike.

“General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay,” Milley reportedly told Zuocheng on Oct. 30, 2020, four days before the November election. “We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you.”

According to the book’s authors, Milley even pledged to alert the Chinese in advance of an impending strike, allegedly saying, “General Li, you and I have known each other for now five years. If we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise.”

Several months later, Milley reportedly tried to assuage Chinese concerns about American stability following the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

“We are 100 percent steady. Everything’s fine,” Milley reportedly said during a January call. “But democracy can be sloppy sometimes.”

Out of hysteria that President Donald Trump might command an attack, the general also reportedly ordered senior military officers to review nuclear weapons protocols, telling them that while Trump could give the order, Milley had to be involved in the process.

A swell of Republicans is demanding answers of Milley, with one congressman noting that a regular soldier would never get away with the type of insubordinate stunt the general pulled.

“If a regular enlisted soldier was as insubordinate as Milley, they’d face a court-martial,” Rep. Jim Banks, ranking member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems, told The Federalist. “Milley should resign immediately. If he doesn’t, he’ll be telling our troops the higher-ups play by a different set of rules,” the Indiana Republican added.

“Today’s reporting on General Milley is deeply concerning and echoes other reports that have surfaced over the past year,” Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., the ranking member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, told The Federalist on Tuesday. “I am astounded by his extraordinary lack of judgment and willingness to compromise our national security and risk American lives. If General Milley really did coordinate with his counterparts in the Chinese Communist Party behind the back of the commander-in-chief of the United States, he is unfit to serve and should be relieved of duty.”

His congressional colleague Rep. Rob Wittman, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, agreed, calling the account “deeply disturbing.”

“If true, these actions undermine civilian control of the military, usurp the president’s authority to decide foreign policy, and set a dangerous precedent for future presidents. This must be thoroughly investigated and the appropriate actions must be taken, as guided by the facts we uncover,” Wittman told The Federalist. “I hope to hear from the Pentagon or General Milley soon. Should he fail to promptly address these accounts of his words and actions, he should either resign or be dismissed.”

Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican, called for a “thorough investigation” during an interview with Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday because “the chairman of the Joint Chiefs does not get to freelance with our adversaries and undermine a sitting commander in chief. That simply cannot happen and cannot be allowed to stand.”

“If it’s true, it’s one of the more serious allegations that I’ve heard regarding the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the chain of command in modern history,” said Gallagher, ranking members of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel. “So at a minimum, the relevant committees in Congress need to demand the release of documents, transcripts from reported calls, and a full testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.”

Sen. Josh Hawley, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, didn’t mince words on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” this week. “If these reports are accurate,” the Missouri Republican said, Milley “needs to resign, and if he won’t resign he needs to be fired.”

Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota were hesitant to say too much about the general, both because the book might not be accurate and because Milley is already scheduled to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee about the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal on Sept. 28.

Cruz told Clay Travis and Buck Sexton on Thursday that he isn’t going to assume the quotes are correct because Woodward “has a long history of having quotes in his books, some of which are accurate and some of which are not.” If Milley did say what the book alleges, however, Cruz said it’s “deeply, deeply concerning. It would be a gross dereliction of duty. It would be breaking the chain of command. Our Constitution establishes civilian control of the military.”

Cramer concurred, telling a local radio show on Thursday that Milley will “have to face the grilling” during the Sept. 28 hearing. “If what the book says is true, it’s going to be pretty bad for Mark Milley,” added Cramer, who’s the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower.

“There is still a lot to answer for,” Sen. Joni Ernst chimed in, “and the American people, and I, expect General Milley to address this before Congress, under oath.” As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Ernst will get the chance to hear from Milley under oath next week. Sen. Tom Cotton, also a member of the committee, said Congress would “ensure” that Milley addresses the report.

These most recently vocal lawmakers join a growing chorus of other strong Republican and military leaders calling for Milley to be at least investigated, with many calling for his termination.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., on Tuesday called for Milley to be fired after he reportedly “contemplated a treasonous leak of classified information to the Chinese Communist Party.”

“These actions by General Milley demonstrate a clear lack of sound judgement, and I urge you to dismiss him immediately,” Rubio wrote in a letter to President Joe Biden. “He purportedly instructed officials not to take orders without his involvement and forced them to take an oath to that effect. A senior military officer interfering with that civilian-controlled process is simply unacceptable at best, and at worst, would cause ambiguity which could lead to war.”

Sen. Rick Scott, another Florida Republican who is also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Thursday that if the Milley quote is accurate, he “needs to be read his rights.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee said “Making promises to the Chinese Communist Party to undermine the Commander in Chief is called treason.”

Additionally, Reps. Scott Perry, Clay Higgins, Lauren Boebert, Michael Cloud, H. Morgan Griffith, Tom Tiffany, Scott DesJarlais, Andrew Clyde, Bill Posey, Jeff Duncan, Ralph Norman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Ted Budd, Matt Rosendale, Dan Bishop, Randy Weber, Louis Gohmert, Andy Harris, Warren Davidson, Bob Good, Chip Roy, Barry Moore, Jody Hice, Ben Cline, Andy Biggs, and Mo Brooks signed a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin calling for a military probe into Milley for treason.

“We are gravely concerned with General (GEN) Mark Milley’s ability to exercise his duties and responsibilities as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.” the legislators wrote. “We request a formal AR 15-6 Investigation commence immediately with regard to these allegations.”

Former President Donald Trump said that if the Milley story is true, he’s guilty of treason. Trump’s acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller noted that Gen. Mark Milley had no authority to make “secret” calls to his counterpart in communist China and needs to resign “immediately.”

Milley Defends His Call To Chinese Counterpart

Quote:Gen. Mark Milley has made his first comments since it was reported that he called his Chinese counterpart and assured him that he would warn of any strike from the United States.

The general said that these types of calls are “routine” and were done “to reassure both allies and adversaries in this case in order to ensure strategic stability,” Fox News reported.

That is not a denial that the phone call happened.

He only gave a brief defense of himself before saying that he would save more information for Congress.

“I think it’s best that I reserve my comments on the record until I do that in front of the lawmakers who have the lawful responsibility to oversee the U.S. military,” he said. “I’ll go into any level of detail Congress wants to go into in a couple of weeks.”

Mark Levin: Pelosi Had ‘Key Role’ in Gen. Milley’s Undercutting of Trump’s Military Authority

Quote:Conservative commentator Mark Levin is calling out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her alleged “key role” in Gen. Mark Milley’s undercutting of Donald Trump’s military authority.

During a segment on Fox News, Levin spoke about the explosive new book that alleges that Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held secret meetings behind then-President Trump’s back and privately told leaders not to take military strike or nuclear orders from Trump days after the Jan. 6 incident at the U.S. Capitol.

Levin argued that Democrats are going to keep supporting Milley because they don’t want any backlash for Pelosi.

Levin said Pelosi played “a key role in” undermining civilian control of the military under Trump via a call she made to Milley in the days after the Capitol incursion.

Pelosi had announced the conversation shortly after it happened on Jan. 8, saying in a letter to House Democrats she’d discussed “precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike.”

“What I’m saying to you is that if they couldn’t even stop him from an assault on the Capitol, who even knows what else he may do?” Pelosi said during the call, according to the book. “And is there anybody in charge at the White House who was doing anything but kissing his fat butt all over this?

“You know he’s crazy. He’s been crazy for a long time,” she added.

Milley reportedly responded, “Madam Speaker, I agree with you on everything.”

That’s why, Levin said, “the Democrat Party will do everything they can to run interference for Milley” when the Joint Chiefs head appears on Capitol Hill on Sept. 28.

“They’re running interference for Milley because they’re running interference for Nancy Pelosi. Nancy Pelosi has a key role in this,” he continued.

“There’s a telephone conversation between Nancy Pelosi and General Milley in which she — who is absolutely nuts — accuses the president of the time, Trump, of being crazy, talks about nuclear weapons, and Milley says he agrees with her completely. He goes back to the Pentagon, he calls in his subordinates and they talk about ‘what is our process?’ and ‘let’s go over it’ for using nuclear weapons,” Levin continued.

“President Trump never hinted ever about using nuclear weapons, there’s no basis for this whatsoever. I might add, in a footnote, I don’t know who’s more loathsome, Milley, who is loathsome, or Woodward and Costa,” he continued.

“They sat on it for months and months when the American people should have known, when Congress should have known, and, of course, the people in the military should have known that we have a rogue general,” Levin added.

WATCH: https://rumble.com/vmnv39-mark-levin-fla...sales.html

Two days after the January 6 incident at the Capitol Gen. Milley took an extraordinary step. He took secret action to talk to military leaders and told them not to take military strikes or nuclear orders from Trump.

Milley was “was certain that Trump had gone into a serious mental decline in the aftermath of the election, with Trump now all but manic, screaming at officials and constructing his own alternate reality about endless election conspiracies,” Bob Woodward and Washington Post reporter Robert Costa said in the book “Peril.”

Milley then called a meeting in secret on January 8 to examine the process for military action which included the launching of nuclear weapons

He told the military officials in charge of the National Military Command Center that they were not to take orders from anyone unless he was involved.

Former Senior Military Official: Milley Had 'Pattern of Behavior' of Exceeding His Authority and Undermining Trump

Quote:A former assistant secretary of the Army under President Trump, E. Casey Wardynski, is accusing Joint Chiefs Chair Mark Milley of overstepping his authority and undermining President Donald Trump.

Wardynski also alleged the Chief of Staff of the Army, James McConville, did the same thing.

We’ve been reporting how Milley allegedly contacted the Chinese and told them that he would give them a heads up if we had any plans to attack them. He also intervened in the nuclear command authority of Trump by telling officers that they should not listen to anything unless it came through him, a breach of his authority because he had no operational command authority. He did that after being pushed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in what amounted to her trying to overthrow the constitutional authority of the elected president of the United States.

But Wardynski said that this was just one instance of a “pattern of behavior.”

From Fox News:

“These kind of behaviors and this willingness for military leaders to exceed their authorities and ignore authorities of the civilian officials appointed over them … positions under the Constitution and laws of the country was not something that came to them on Jan. 8,” Wardynski said. “It was something that they had done for a while.”

According to Wardynski, there were “stunning” instances in which he saw, firsthand, high-ranking military officials exceed their authority.

“It was in and around the riots in D.C.,” Wardynski said. “Gen. Milley, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – first thing to know, is he is a staff officer, he is an adviser, he’s not a commander – he ordered elements of the 82nd Airborne and the 10th Mountain Division to fly overnight to D.C. to Fort Belvoir and Andrews without consulting the Army chain of command and reaching around the chain of command to do that. I know that for a fact.”

Wardynski said McConville told him that he “would not be obeying any illegal orders from the president” amid several violent riots across the nation in the summer of 2020, particularly in D.C.

“That’s not something in 30 years of service in that uniform I thought I’d ever hear,” Wardynski said. “My interpretation of that was he was talking about any use of the Insurrection Act by the president.”

The Insurrection Act of 1807 allows a president to deploy U.S. militarized forces and National Guard troops should there be extreme civil disobedience or an insurrection.

“There was a lot of talk about governors and mayors not enforcing the law,” he added, providing context to the nature of ongoing events at that time. “A lot of Secret Service agents were hurt at the White House, a lot of national guardsmen were hurt at the White House, at one point it was reported that they evacuated the president to the emergency operations center, and of course Milley ordered these two units flown to D.C.”

Wardynski said that McConville repeated that he would “not obey illegal orders from the president” in October 2020, which prompted Wardynski to call his lawyer, the number-three attorney for the Army at the time, to advise him as to what was going on and saying he was concerned they would refuse an order of the president in regard to the Insurrection Act.

“My impression is, for some time, these people had no intention of supporting the president,” Wardynski noted. “Milley, in staff meetings, was routinely a bully. He would sit at the head of the table with the secretary, the secretary would say we’re going to do the following, and Milley would look at the gathered staff and tell them, ‘Let me tell you what the secretary just said’ and it was pretty much something different.”

Wardynski also noted that Milley, who he was around multiple times for meetings, went into his portfolio on multiple occasions without prior approval.

“He reached into my portfolio at least three times without my authority and then came to me for sort of forgiveness afterwards, which he did not get,” Wardynski said of Milley, whom he described as a “manipulator.”

Wardynski said Milley’s “business with the nuclear weapons and the nuclear command and control is part of a pattern of behavior.” “I believe it reached, at least, across the top of the Army in military leadership,” Wardynski added.

Neither Milley nor McConville responded to Fox’s requests for comment.

Milley has already said he thought his contacts with the Chinese were normal, with his spokesperson saying he had regular contact with them. So Wardynski raises even more questions about how long all this has been going on and where else Milley may have been exceeding his authority. Not to mention how many other people were acting this way.

WHAT? Obama’s Def Sec Leon Panetta Appears To Admit He Was Involved With Milley’s Secret CCP Calls

Quote:Former Obama-Biden administration Defense Secretary and CIA Director Leon Panetta appeared to admit that he was involved with General Mark Milley’s secret calls to the Chinese Communist military behind President Donald Trump’s back.
Leon Panetta, the former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and former Defense Secretary under the Obama-Biden administration appeared to admit that he was involved with General Mark Milley’s secret calls to the CCP military behind the back of President Donald Trump.

Panetta, while confirming that Milley made secret calls, said the first secret call Milley made to the CCP was “pursuant to the approval of [Defense] Secretary [Mark] Esper,” adding that the second secret call to the CCP was made because “President [Trump] was appointing political people to key positions at the Defense Department.”

In an apparent admission to being involved with the secret CCP calls, Panetta, a private citizen, said “we were concerned about what the President might do.”

Panetta’s ousting of former Defense Secretary Mark Esper confirms earlier reports by National File concerning the scope of how many people in the Trump administration knew of the secret CCP calls behind President Trump’s back.

Former Trump Administration Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller has come out and said that he “did not and would not ever authorize” General Mark Milley’s calls with the CCP. However, Fox News was told that he and Defense Secretary Mark Esper had “full knowledge” of the secret calls, including “about 15” other people.

However, Panetta’s apparent admission to being involved with the secret calls raises questions concerning exactly how many former government officials – then private citizens at the time, were involved in the situation that many have referred to as “treason” against the United States.

While Milley maintains that his secret calls to the Chinese military, in which he pledged to provide aid and comfort to the CCP in the event of a potential US military attack, were “perfectly” in line with his duties, House Republicans have sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin demanding that Milley be subject to an AR 15-6 investigation for his “outright treason.”

Milley and Pelosi are both clearly guilty of treason, and it seems there may be others. The question is, will any of them be held accountable? My bet is that they won't.

Don't know if any of you have watched recent interviews with Costa and Woodward, but they both say...and rightfully so...that what they claim Milley did was in no way treason.

(09-21-2021 11:06 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  Don't know if any of you have watched recent interviews with Costa and Woodward, but they both say...and rightfully so...that what they claim Milley did was in no way treason.

When did these two Bozos become authority of any kind? Go spew your insane logic elsewhere.

Costa and Woodward? bahahaha

If this man was on Trump's side.. It was absolutely treason, Logan Act, and possibly Satanic worship.

Not on Trump's side, he's sympathetic to the Chinese and don't want a nuclear war.

(09-21-2021 11:06 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  Don't know if any of you have watched recent interviews with Costa and Woodward, but they both say...and rightfully so...that what they claim Milley did was in no way treason.

Bwhahahaha

Wait a second.....

Bwhahahaha

Its absolutely treason and they don't get to define what is or isnt ... they were absolutely dressed down for putting this out there and are having to say that... guaranteed

One more laugh...

Bwahahahahahahahahahaha

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

Poor tom, so much losing.

(09-21-2021 11:06 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  Don't know if any of you have watched recent interviews with Costa and Woodward, but they both say...and rightfully so...that what they claim Milley did was in no way treason.

It's a little touchy. Since Trump was not planning an attack on China, it probably wasn't treason, but other crimes.

(09-21-2021 11:06 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  Don't know if any of you have watched recent interviews with Costa and Woodward, but they both say...and rightfully so...that what they claim Milley did was in no way treason.

lulz.....ok

it actually doesnt matter if it was technically treason, or technically about a dozen other laws he broke. Maybe its conspiracy to commit treason, because he said he would give a headsup if an attack were to happen. Or maybe its treason because the statement he made about giving a headsup to China meant he thought an attack was imminent from the president.

Even if its not treason, its absolutely sedition, as well as about a dozen other laws he violated.

In other words, in no case was what he did acceptable and lawful. If thats what you are gathering from Woodward, well then, you've been hoodwinked again.

(09-21-2021 12:48 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(09-21-2021 11:06 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  Don't know if any of you have watched recent interviews with Costa and Woodward, but they both say...and rightfully so...that what they claim Milley did was in no way treason.

lulz.....ok

it actually doesnt matter if it was technically treason, or technically about a dozen other laws he broke. Maybe its conspiracy to commit treason, because he said he would give a headsup if an attack were to happen. Or maybe its treason because the statement he made about giving a headsup to China meant he thought an attack was imminent from the president.

Even if its not treason, its absolutely sedition, as well as about a dozen other laws he violated.

In other words, in no case was what he did acceptable and lawful. If thats what you are gathering from Woodward, well then, you've been hoodwinked again.

RedTom hasn’t been hoodwinked - he’s taken the “left side” in any and all issues since I’ve frequented this forum. The left and minions that serve the left are defended by Tom to the hilt every time.

He’s just being the Tom he always is……..

(09-21-2021 11:27 AM)BlueDragon Wrote:  

(09-21-2021 11:06 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  Don't know if any of you have watched recent interviews with Costa and Woodward, but they both say...and rightfully so...that what they claim Milley did was in no way treason.

When did these two Bozos become authority of any kind? Go spew your insane logic elsewhere.

Ummm...dude...they're the ones who wrote the book that you're using their words to claim Milley committed treason with!

(09-21-2021 01:18 PM)Redwingtom Wrote:  

(09-21-2021 11:27 AM)BlueDragon Wrote:  

(09-21-2021 11:06 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  Don't know if any of you have watched recent interviews with Costa and Woodward, but they both say...and rightfully so...that what they claim Milley did was in no way treason.

When did these two Bozos become authority of any kind? Go spew your insane logic elsewhere.

Ummm...dude...they're the ones who wrote the book that you're using their words to claim Milley committed treason with!

Actually, we're using Milley's own words now. And others.

General Milley and the Arrogance of Power

Quote:The headline over at Fox News was this:

Milley, Army chief displayed ‘pattern of behavior’ defying authority: former senior military official

E. Casey Wardynski alleges ‘stunning’ instances of Milley, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville exceeding authority

The story reports this:

A former assistant secretary of the Army under President Trump has accused top military officials Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army Gen. James McConville of engaging in a “pattern of behavior” that overstepped their authority and undermined potential commands from Trump.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, E. Casey Wardynski, a former assistant secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs under the Trump administration, accused high-ranking military officials Milley and McConville of making statements that insinuated they were calling the shots.

“These kind of behaviors and this willingness for military leaders to exceed their authorities and ignore authorities of the civilian officials appointed over them … positions under the Constitution and laws of the country was not something that came to them on Jan. 8,” Wardynski said. “It was something that they had done for a while.”

Why does this story sound familiar?

Do the names James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Paige, John Brennan, and Miles Taylor ring a bell? The first four were charged with running all or parts of the FBI, the fifth ran the CIA, and the last was a staffer in the Department of Homeland Security. (Taylor is the guy who signed himself as “Anonymous” in writing a much hyped attack piece on then-President Trump.)

What all of these people have in common — and there are more sprinkled around Washington, one can be sure — is their high self-regard that they are, to borrow the term from the 1960s Vietnam debacle, “the best and the brightest.” In fact, it is this very belief that has led all of them to exhibit another trait from the 1960s — the arrogance of power.

Their tales would be amusing if in fact they were not such clear threats to American democracy and democratic values. Power, wrote the late Sen. J. William Fulbright, who penned an entire volume on The Arrogance of Power in 1966, “confuses itself with virtue and tends also to take itself for omnipotence.” Fulbright also noted that German soldiers in World War I wore belt buckles that read “Gott mit uns” — God with us — a phrase centered on the belief that “The Lord, after all, surely would not choose you as His agent and then deny you the sword with which to work His will.” It gave the soldiers, Fulbright says, “an exaggerated sense of power and an imaginary sense of mission” which in turn caused those who believed this to come to grief.

This arrogance of power is exactly what Casey Wardynski is talking about with Gen. Milley and Army Gen. James McConville. Wardynski is that former assistant secretary of the Army under Trump and is himself a retired colonel and a West Point graduate with a 30-year career in the U.S. Army.

All of the above listed people viewed their power while in the government as signs of their virtue, with that virtue giving them the right to override the elected president of the United States at will when they disagreed with him.

Recall that this was what greeted the Trump administration a mere 11 days after Trump’s 2017 inauguration. This was the headline in the Washington Post:

Resistance from within: Federal workers push back against Trump

This gem of a story reported this:

Less than two weeks into Trump’s administration, federal workers are in regular consultation with recently departed Obama-era political appointees about what they can do to push back against the new president’s initiatives. Some federal employees have set up social media accounts to anonymously leak word of changes that Trump appointees are trying to make.

And a few government workers are pushing back more openly, incurring the wrath of a White House that, as press secretary Sean Spicer said this week about dissenters at the State Department, sends a clear message that they “should either get with the program, or they can go.” …

The resistance is so early, so widespread and so deeply felt that it has officials worrying about paralysis and overt refusals by workers to do their jobs.

In other words? All of these people had nothing but contempt for America’s democratic values and would seek any way they could find to deliberately undermine the new, democratically elected president of the United States.

This arrogance of power is a disease that has metastasized in Washington. It is an anti-democratic, anti-democracy cancer that, we now know, has spread through the FBI, the CIA, the Pentagon, and more.

As The New York Post’s columnist Michael Goodwin has noted of Milley:

In plain English, this was an attempted coup. Milley, in a fit of pique over the president’s conduct after the election, reversed the chain of command. No longer would a duly elected civilian be on top.

A general trusted with awesome responsibility went rogue, usurping the president’s power and making himself commander in chief.

Milley’s actions are the latest manifestation of a sickness that led the leaders of many important institutions to turn their hatred for Trump into a license to break restraints, standards and even laws.…

The pattern is unlike anything seen in modern times and perhaps ever in American history.

Exactly.

The question now is: what to do about this? There are calls for Milley to be fired — and he should be. But all of this goes well beyond Milley. What we clearly now have in Washington is an arrogance of power that makes it plain that respect for democracy and democratic values is gone, with unelected generals and bureaucrats making it their business to undermine the core principles of the Constitution and the nation that Constitution has built.

Not good. Not good at all.

(09-21-2021 11:06 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  Don't know if any of you have watched recent interviews with Costa and Woodward, but they both say...and rightfully so...that what they claim Milley did was in no way treason.

Thank you, but I'll rely on lawyers rather than journalists to tell me what the law says. And I'll recognize that half of lawyers are probably answering out of bias rather than analysis. Actually, maybe more like 100%--50% each way.

New Timeline of Mark Milley 'Treason' Invalidates His Defense

Quote:With all the news surrounding the border crisis, Biden’s crashing approval, and Hunter Biden’s corruption, another story flew under the radar over the last couple of days involving Gen. Mark Milley.

You’ll recall that Milley called the Chinese up to promise to commit treason (as defined by the statute) in order to undermine then President Donald Trump. It was an astonishing revelation that showed just how far our military leadership has fallen. Milley was, of course, at the head of pushing critical race theory to servicemembers and the disastrous evacuation from Afghanistan that left 13 Americans dead.

Now, the details of the phone call to a PLA general are emerging, and the timeline is invalidating the excuses lodged by those who ran to defend Milley.

When this story initially broke, much of the media, including some on the right, rushed to suggest that Milley was justified in breaking the chain of command and promising to commit treason because he was “doing his job” to “avoid war” during an “unprecedented” time following January 6th. According to the narrative, things were so up in the air regarding the future of our Republic after the trespassing event at the Capitol (a hysterical contention on its own) that Milley had no choice but to effectively declare himself a military dictator and take control of the government.

Except, according to the above excerpts, the call most in question didn’t occur after January 6th. Rather, it occurred on October 30th, 2020. If you aren’t good with calendars, that was before the election even took place. Thus, all the ridiculous contentions that Milley was allowed to call up a PLA general to extend an offer of aid, one that could put American servicemembers and interests in harm’s way, simply don’t wash. Milley was lashing out and undermining the elected president of the United States long before January 6th became an issue. Though, to be clear, even if this call had taken place after January 6th, it still wouldn’t have been justified.

To this point, we’ve yet to see any evidence to back up Milley’s concern regarding the Chinese either, which again undermines the defenses offered regarding his actions. There is nothing to suggest Donald Trump was going to attack China prior to the election or after. Rather, this appears to be another example of Milley being subservient to the CCP in a way that raises a lot of questions about his entanglements with the communists. What does China have on Milley?

Regardless, the talking point that Milley had any justification for what he did falls flat on its face in light of the now confirmed timeline of events. This was a man who committed a soft coup. I know that sounds overwrought, but what else do you call a military general who started conducting his own foreign policy in order to essentially take control of the government under the guise of “protecting” it?