Gen. Mark Milley: ‘Routine’ Calls to China ‘Perfectly’ Within Scope of Job
National Defense,National Security,Mark Milley,Defense And Security
Gen. Mark Milley said Friday calls to his Communist Chinese counterpart in the last days of Donald Trump’s presidency were “routine” and fell “perfectly within the duties and responsibilities” of his job as the top U.S. military officer.
In his first public acknowledgement of the exchanges, Milley observed such telephone calls were done “to reassure both allies and adversaries in this case in order to ensure strategic stability.”
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke to The Associated Press (AP) and another reporter traveling with him to Europe to state his case.
Milley chose to only offer up a brief defense of his calls, saying he plans a deeper discussion about the matter for Congress when he testifies at a hearing later in September. He told the outlet:
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.
I’ll go into any level of detail Congress wants to go into in a couple of weeks.
Milley and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are scheduled to testify Sept. 28 before the Senate Armed Services Committee amid continuing confusion over who said what to whom.
.png.webp)
