US Army Gen Milley defends 'secret' calls to PLA, says 'Knew Trump wouldn't attack China'

“Why haven’t you resigned?” a GOP senator asked America’s top military adviser and US Army’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, on Tuesday, Sept. 28 during his first public testimony before the Senate Committee on Armed Services (SASC) where Milley defended “secret” phone calls to his “Chinese counterpart” from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). General Milley told the SASC that the calls, reported in the sleuth Bob Woodward and Robert Costa’s new book Peril, were made in coordination with other defense department officials and were intended to assure PLA that the US wasn’t going to launch a military attack on the People’s Republic of China. Gen. Milley and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin are both testifying publicly before Senate lawmakers for the first time. 

According to the video transcripts of the testimony, while Gen. Milley agreed that it may not have been appropriate to hold a telephonic conversation with his Chinese counterpart, several of former President Trump’s officials were aware that they were occurring. "I personally informed both Secretary of State [Mike] Pompeo and White House Chief of Staff [Mark] Meadows about the call, among other topics. Soon after that, I attended a meeting with Acting [Defense] Secretary [Chris] Miller, where I briefed him on the call," General Milley was heard in the footages telling the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. 

'Chinese worried about an attack on them': Gen. Milley 

At least two such phone calls, made by Milley to Gen. Li Zuocheng of China’s People's Liberation Army, one on October 30, 2020, just four days before Trump lost elections, and the second on January 8 two weeks before the Biden’s inauguration as new President were now on Senate Committee on Armed Services [SASC] committee’s radar. Milley, though, justified those conversations as held within the framework of laws as he said that defense secretary Mark Esper and then acting defense secretary Christopher Miller both knew and that he was “certain that president Trump did not intend to attack the Chinese”.  Gen. Milley told SASC that he “personally informed” the former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows “shortly” after the call concluded. 

“The specific purpose of the calls were generated by concerning intelligence, which caused us to believe the Chinese worried about an attack on them by the United States,” Milley's prepared statement read on Tuesday.

“I am certain that President Trump did not intend to attack the Chinese, and it is my directed responsibility, and it was my direct responsibility by the secretary to convey that intent to the Chinese,” it continued. 

Several Ex and currently serving US military officials and lawmakers had called for the resignation of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley over sensational reporting from Woodward’s book. The excerpts revealed that Milley “reached out” to his “Chinese counterpart” from the People’s Liberation Army during the final days of Trump's presidency. He said he ‘cautioned’ China about an attack over fears that the former US commander-in-chief Donald Trump “had a mental decline” and might strike the People’s Republic with a nuclear arsenal. The US Army's chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is being accused of “usurping the civilian authority” and “breaking the chain of command.” In a statement issued by his spokesperson Army Col. David Butler earlier, Gen. Milley denied any wrongdoing and emphasised that his actions were "legal and in keeping with the duties of his position".