US top general secretly called China over fears Trump could spark war, says new book
The top US general secretly called his Chinese counterpart twice over concerns then-President Donald Trump could spark a war with China as his potential election loss loomed and in its aftermath, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
US General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Staff, called General Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation
Army on Oct. 30, 2020 – four days before the election – and again on Jan. 8, two days after Trump supporters led a deadly
riot at the U.S. Capitol, the newspaper reported.
In the calls, Milley sought to assure Li the us was stable and not getting to attack and, if there have been to be an attack, he would alert his counterpart before time, the report said.
The report was supported “Peril,” a replacement book by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, which they said relied on interviews with 200 sources and is thanks to be released next week.
Trump, during a statement, cast doubt within the story, calling it “fabricated.” He said if the story was true Milley should be tried for treason. “For the record, I never even thought of attacking China,” Trump said.
Milley’s office declined to comment.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio called on President Joe Biden, a Democrat, to right away fire Milley.
“I don’t got to tell of you the risks posed by senior military officers leaking classified information on US military operations, but i will be able to underscore that such subversion undermines the President’s ability to barter and leverage one among this nation’s instruments of national power in his interactions with foreign nations,” Rubio said during a letter to Biden.
Asked about the Washington Post report, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment and referred inquiries to the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Staff and therefore the Department of Defense .
Trump, a Republican, named Milley to the highest post in 2018 but began criticising him, also as other appointees and former staffers, after losing the presidential election to Biden in November 2020.
The Washington Post reported that Milley was motivated to contact Beijing the second time partially thanks to a Jan. 8 call with United States House of Representatives of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had asked the overall what safeguards were in situ to stop an “unstable president” from launching a nuclear strike.
“He’s crazy. you recognize he’s crazy,” Pelosi told Milley, the newspaper reported, citing a transcript of the decision .
According to the cited call transcript, the overall replied, “I accept as true with you on everything.”
