United States Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley reportedly promised to alert the Chinese Communist Party should America decide to attack it, prompting former President Donald Trump to say this is an act of "treason" when proven true.
The Gateway Pundit pointed to the new book of Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, "Peril", in disclosing that Milley made a secret phone call to the CCP where he assured to give an advanced warning if the United States would ever attack it.
There were two phone calls Milley did. One was before the November 2020 Presidential Elections and another after the January 2021 U.S. Capitol riot. As per the authors who also wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post being writers there, Milley was "so fearful Trump might spark war that he made secret calls."
"In a pair of secret phone calls, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, assured his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng of the PLA, that the U.S. would not strike," the authors said in the book.
"One call took place on Oct 30, 2020, four days before the election that unseated President Trump, and the other on Jan. 8, 2021, two days after the Capitol siege carried out by his supporters in a quest to cancel the vote," they continued.
As per the book, Milley was reviewing intelligence report that indicated the CCP believed the United States was preparing to attack them. Milley then made the first call to a certain "General Li" after reading the intelligence report.
Milley denied the contents of the report to Li and assured him that should there be one, it won't come as a "surprise." The book recounted Milley highlighting the rapport he has established with Li "through a backchannel" before pledging that he will alert him should an attack be in the process.
"General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay. We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you," the book quoted Milley in 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," he added.
Reacting to reports on Milley making secret phone calls to the CCP, Trump said in an interview with Newsmax that if Milley really did such an act it would be regarded as "treason." Trump also called Milley "ridiculous" for even thinking he'd attack China during his administration.
"So, first of all, if it is actually true, which is hard to believe that he would have called China and done these things and was willing to advise them of an attack or advance of an attack, that's treason!" Trump remarked.
"Number two, it's totally ridiculous," he added, "for him to say that I would even think about attacking China--I think he's just trying to get out of his incompetent withdrawal out of Afghanistan...they killed our soldiers and we left $85 billion worth of equipment."
"For him to say that I was going to attack China is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard--and everybody knows it," he reiterated.
Trump's approach to other countries was lauded to the point that he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for not starting any wars while in office.
"Peril," scheduled to be released on September 21, is the third installment in Woodward's series on Trump's administration. It details the transition of the presidency from Trump to the current administration, described as "one of the most dangerous periods in American history."
The book contains interviews of "more than 200 people" who provide "vivid, eyewitness accounts of what really happened" during the "turmoil" of the transition and thereafter.
