Joint Chiefs chairman Mark Milley feared Trump would start a war with Iran to stay in power and warned lame duck president not to launch missile strike, new report claims
General Mark Milley was worried then-President Donald Trump would initiate a war against Iran after he lost the November election to Joe Biden as a ploy to stay in power, according to a report.
Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, thought that the United States came ‘very close’ to a full-blown military conflict with Iran, it was reported.
He feared Trump would start a war with Iran as a pretext to remain in power even after Biden was declared the lawful winner, according to The New Yorker.
According to The New Yorker, Milley was concerned about two possible scenarios.
General Mark Milley was worried then-President Donald Trump would initiate a war against Iran after he lost the November election to Joe Biden as a ploy to stay in power, according to a report
He was worried Trump would either seek ‘to use the military on the streets of America to prevent the legitimate, peaceful transfer of power’ or that the lame duck president would set in motion a chain of events that would lead to a full-blown crisis.
After Biden was declared the winner, Milley had daily conference calls with then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
The general was so concerned about what Trump was up to that he viewed the daily meetings as a way to keep tabs on the president.
Milley is reported to have told staff members that he viewed those phone calls as ‘land the plane’ calls since ‘both engines are out, the landing gear are stuck, we’re in an emergency situation.’
‘Our job is to land this plane safely and to do a peaceful transfer of power the 20th of January,’ Milley is quoted as saying by The New Yorker.
Throughout 2020, Milley was reportedly fearful of what Trump might do.
He laid out a four-point plan: make sure the US didn’t engage in unnecessary wars overseas; prevent US troops from being used on the streets of America against the American people; maintain the military’s integrity; and maintain his own integrity.
After the election, Milley was said to have been horrified to hear that Trump would not accept the outcome.
So he met with the Joint Chiefs and devised a plan whereby each of them would resign one by one if Trump issued any unlawful orders, according to The New Yorker.
Milley also reportedly made it clear to senior members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, that Trump would not succeed in using the military to stay in power unlawfully.
In the days and weeks after the election, Trump is said to have repeatedly raised the topic of striking Iran. The image above shows Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on June 4
‘Our loyalty is to the US Constitution,’ Milley reportedly told them, adding ‘we are not going to be involved in politics.’
While Trump was claiming the election was stolen, he and his aides also reportedly raised the possibility of launching strikes against Iran in response to provocations by the Islamic Republic in the region.
Milley repeatedly urged Trump not to attack Iran, fearing it would lead to war, The New Yorker reported.
Trump was being encouraged to attack Iran by hawkish anti-Iran advisors as well as by Israel’s then-prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
In early January, when Trump suggested a missile strike against Iran, Milley pushed back, warning: ‘If you do this, you’re gonna have a f***ing war.’
On January 3, Trump returned to the White House after spending the Christmas break at Mar-a-Lago.
He held a meeting in the Oval Office with Pompeo and then-National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien.
The two aides told Trump that it was too late to attack Iran’ nuclear sites.
Milley echoed those sentiments, telling Trump what the potential costs would be of carrying out such an attack.
Trump agreed, and the issue was dropped.
At the end of the meeting, Trump asked Milley and acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller if they were ready for the ‘wild’ rally that was scheduled for January 6.
‘It’s gonna be a big deal,’ Milley reportedly heard Trump say.
‘You’re ready for that, right?’
Three days later, Trump’s supporters ransacked the US Capitol.
The report surfaced a day after an explosive excerpt from a forthcoming book about the Trump presidency describes how Milley was concerned the outgoing leader would attempt a coup in the days and weeks after the election.
Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was so convinced that Trump would attempt a coup after his election loss to Joe Biden that he and other senior generals made plans to stop him, according to a new book. Milley is seen left with Trump at the Army-Navy college football game in Philadelphia in December 2018
Milley reportedly referred to Trump supporters as 'brownshirts' and compared the former president to Hitler. The image above shows Trump supporters rioting at the US Capitol on January 6
The former president insisted on Thursday that he wouldn't have used the military to illegally seize control of the government after his election loss.
But he suggested that if he had tried to carry out a coup, it wouldn't have been with Milley, his top military adviser.
In a lengthy statement, Trump responded to revelations in a new book detailing fears from Milley that the outgoing president would stage a coup during his final weeks in office.
Trump said he's 'not into coups' and 'never threatened, or spoke about, to anyone, a coup of our Government.'
At the same time, Trump said that 'if I was going to do a coup, one of the last people I would want to do it with is' Milley.
His comment about a coup was in response to new reporting from I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year by Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker.
The book reports that Milley was shaken by Trump's refusal to concede in the weeks after the election.
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