The book says a top general took covert action to prevent Trump from using nuclear weapons

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A new book says the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, took top-secret actions to prevent former President Donald Trump from using nuclear weapons.

General Milley, just two days after the January 6 riots, took it upon himself to limit Mr. Trump’s ability to launch a military strike.

Watergate journalist Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, both of The Washington Post, report in their new book Risk that General Milley was deeply disturbed by the attack on the Capitol and that he “was certain that Trump had entered a serious mental decline in the aftermath.” From the election, where Trump is now a maniac, yelling at officials and establishing his alternate reality around endless election conspiracies.”

Woodward and Costa also wrote that General Milley was concerned that Mr. Trump might “go rogue,” CNN reported.

The book says that General Milley told his senior staff, “You never know what the president’s starting point is.”

The top military commander hosted a secret meeting in his Pentagon office on January 8 to review the process for the start of military action, including the launch of nuclear weapons.

General Milley told those in charge of the Pentagon’s war room – the national military command center – not to follow any orders unless he was involved.

According to Beryl, General Meili told officials, “No matter what you are told, you are carrying out the procedure. You are doing this operation. I am part of that action.”

He then asked each of the officers to confirm orally that they understood when he looked them in the eye.

“I got you?” asked General Mielle.

Officials replied: “Yes, sir.” Correspondents wrote that General Meili “considered it an oath.”

The book is based on more than 200 interviews with people directly involved in the covered events as well as witnesses, and depicts a deranged Mr. Trump yelling at his top staff as he tries to stay in office.

General Milley was alarmed as he noticed Mr. Trump’s erratic behavior and became more concerned about the national security of the United States in the wake of the January 6 events. The top military commander had two phone calls with the Chinese general, who was concerned about the unrest in the United States.

The authors wrote that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told General Milley during a tense phone call, “If they can’t even stop him from assaulting the Capitol, who even knows what he’s going to do? And is there anyone in charge in the White House who would do anything but kiss his ass?” Fat in all of this?”

“You know he’s crazy. He’s been crazy for a long time,” she added.

“Madam, I agree with you on everything,” replied the general, according to Beryl. After the call, General Meili told his service chiefs to keep an eye on everything “all the time”.

Then he called the director of the National Security Agency (NSA), Paul Nakasone.

“Wow…Keep watching, check,” he said to General Nakasone.

“Watch everything 360 degrees,” General Milley told then-CIA Director Gina Haspel.

Woodward and Costa wrote, “Milly was overseeing the mobilization of the US national security state without the knowledge of the American people or the rest of the world.” They add that “some might argue that Milley overstepped his authority and took extraordinary power for himself” but the general believed that it was “a good faith precaution to ensure there was no historic rupture in the international system, no accidental war with China or others, and no use of nuclear weapons” .

After discovering that Mr. Trump had signed a memorandum written by two of his allies ordering the withdrawal of all US forces from Afghanistan by January 15, 2021, without notifying anyone on his national security team, General Milley could not forget that Mr. Trump was gone. Army leaders.

After the January 6 mutiny, General Milley “felt no absolute certainty that the military could control or trust Trump, and believed his job as a senior military officer was to think the unthinkable and take any and all necessary precautions,” the authors wrote.

General Meili thought it was “the darkest moment ever in theoretical possibility”.

Woodward and Costa write that Mr. Trump may start a struggle with the United States or abroad to distract the nation and the world from his election loss to President Joe Biden.

After Mr. Trump refused to concede the election in November 2020, Director Haspel told General Milley: “We’re on our way to a right-wing coup. Everything is crazy. He’s acting like a six-year-old in a tantrum.” She was also concerned that Mr. Trump might take action to attack Iran.

This is a very dangerous situation. Will you criticize his ego? ‘ asked General Mielle.

Some Trump allies also expressed concern about Trump after his loss to Biden.

Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told General Milley that Mr. Trump was “in a very dark place right now”.

General Milley focused individually on ensuring a peaceful transition of power to the Biden administration on January 20.

We have a plane with four engines and three of them have gone out. We don’t have landing gear. But we will land this plane and we will land it safely.”

The day after the election, November 4, 2020, Trump asked Chancellor Kellyanne Conway, “How did we lose the vote for Joe Biden?”

He seemed to accept that he lost, but later indulged in electoral conspiracy theories after phone calls with allies like Rudy Giuliani.

According to Burrell, then-Attorney General Bill Barr told Mr. Trump, “The problem is these things with voting machines are just bulls.” “Your team is a bunch of clowns.”

White House chief strategist Steve Bannon left the administration in August 2017 and was indicted in April 2020, but Trump later pardoned him. Once again, Mr. Bannon became a prominent figure in the days leading up to the January 6 Capitol riots. He persuaded Mr. Trump on December 30 to return to the White House from Mar-a-Lago to prepare for January 6, the day Congress was to certify Biden’s Electoral College victory.

“You have to go back to Washington and make a dramatic comeback today,” Bannon said, according to the book. “You have to get a penny off the ski slopes and bring him back here today. This is a crisis.”

Mr Bannon said it was a “moment of reckoning”.

He said, “People will go, ‘What’s going on here?'” “We’re going to bury Biden on January 6th, let’s bury him.”

When Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence spoke in the Oval Office on January 5, Trump supporters could be heard cheering in the streets outside, as the president pressured his vice president to annul the election results.

“If these people said you had the power, wouldn’t you want it?” asked Mr. Trump.

“I don’t want anyone to have that power,” Pence said.

“But wouldn’t it be great to have such strength?” asked Mr. Trump.

“No,” Pence said, adding, “I did everything I could and then some to find a way around this. It simply isn’t possible.”

When Pence did not succumb to pressure under pressure, Mr. Trump shouted “No, no, no!” According to the authors. “You don’t get it, Mike. You can do that. I don’t want to be your friend anymore if you don’t.”

Mr. Trump called Mr. Pence on the morning of January 6.

“If you didn’t, you picked the wrong guy four years ago,” Mr. Trump said, according to Burrell. It will weaken,” Mr. Trump said. His anger was evident to the others in the room.

Pence reached out to Dan Quayle, Vice President of George H.W. Bush, to ask him if there was anything he could do several times.

“Mike, you have no flexibility in this matter. Nobody. Zero. Forget it. Put it away,” said Mr. Quill.

“You don’t know what position I’m in,” Pence said.

“I know what position you are in,” replied Mr. Coyle. “I also know what the law is. You listen to the parliamentarian. That’s all you do. You have no power.”

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