Bob Woodward, a reporter for The Washington Post, is smacking down the idea that Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, committed treason.
During an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Last Word” Monday, Woodward said, “I think that at the center of all of this, we should say, the reporting we did shows that everything Milley did was to protect the country.”
“The idea that he committed treason is just totally unsupported… I mean, there is just nothing in our reporting,” he added.
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Woodward says that the idea that Milley committed treason is “totally unsupported” by their reporting. pic.twitter.com/HPWRInnWZZ
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 21, 2021
Woodward and Robert Costa of The Washington Post reported in the new book “Peril” that Milley was so concerned that Trump would start a war with China that he contacted his Chinese counterpart to assure them that the U.S. could not conduct a strike.
As the Post reports, “In the book’s account, Milley went so far as to pledge he would alert his counterpart in the event of a U.S. attack, stressing the rapport they’d established through a backchannel. ‘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.’”
Milley defended his reported calls on Friday while speaking to The Associated Press. He said they were “perfectly within the duties and responsibilities” of his job and meant “to reassure both allies and adversaries in this case in order to ensure strategic stability.”
“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 added.
An unnamed defense official told Politico that the book’s description of the calls is “grossly mischaracterized.”
“The official said the calls were not out of the ordinary, and the chairman was not frantically trying to reassure his counterpart,” Politico reported.
After the detail of Milley’s reported calls with his Chinese counterpart were made public, former President Donald Trump accused him of treason.