Senior generals feared Trump would attempt a coup

Trump calls polls that do not favor him false 0:41

Washington (CNN) -

The top US military official, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, was so concerned that then-President Donald Trump and his allies might attempt a coup or take other dangerous or illegal measures. After the November election he and other top officials informally planned different ways to arrest Trump, according to excerpts from an upcoming book obtained by CNN.

The book, by The Washington Post journalists and Pulitzer Prize winners Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker describes how Milley and other military chiefs discussed a plan to resign, one by one, rather than carry out Trump's orders that they deemed illegal, dangerous. or reckless.

"It was kind of a Saturday Night Massacre in reverse," write Leonnig and Rucker.

The book,

"I alone can fix it"

, scheduled to be published next Tuesday, chronicles Trump's final year as president, with a behind-the-scenes look at how top administration officials and Trump's inner circle navigated his increasingly unhinged behavior after losing the 2020 election. The authors interviewed Trump for more than two hours.

The book recounts how, for the first time in modern American history, the nation's top military officer, whose role is to advise the president, was preparing for a confrontation with the commander-in-chief because he feared a coup attempt. after Trump lost the November election.

The authors explain Milley's growing concern that the personnel moves that placed Trump's acolytes in positions of power in the Pentagon after the November 2020 elections, including the firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper and the resignation of the Attorney General William Barr, were the sign of something sinister to come.

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Milley spoke to friends, lawmakers and colleagues about the threat of a coup, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff felt he had to be "on guard" for what might come.

"They can try, but they are not going to make it," Milley told his assistants, according to the authors.

"You can't do this without the military. You can't do this without the CIA and the FBI. We're the guys with the guns."

In the days leading up to January 6, Leonnig and Rucker write, Milley was concerned about Trump's call to action.

"Milley told his staff that he believed Trump was stoking the unrest, possibly hoping to find an excuse to invoke the Insurrection Act and call in the military."

Milley saw Trump as "the classic authoritarian leader with nothing to lose," the authors write, and saw parallels between Adolf Hitler's rhetoric as victim and savior and Trump's false claims of voter fraud.

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"This is a Reichstag moment," Milley told his aides, according to the book.

"The Gospel of the Führer".

Ahead of a pro-Trump "MAGA Million March (Make America Great Again)" in November to protest the election results, Milley told aides he feared "it could be the modern American equivalent of 'brown shirts in the streets' ", referring to the pro-Nazi militia that fueled Hitler's rise to power.

'This is all real, man'

Rucker and Leonnig interviewed more than 140 sources for the book, although most were given anonymity to speak frankly and reconstruct events and dialogue.

Milley is widely cited and appears positively as someone who tried to keep democracy alive because he believed he was on the brink of collapse after receiving a warning a week after the election from an old friend.

"What they are trying to do here is overthrow the government," said the friend, who is not mentioned, according to the authors.

"This is all real, man. You're one of the few guys between us and really bad things."

Milley's reputation took a major blow in June 2020, when he joined Trump during his controversial photo shoot at St. John's Church, after federal forces violently dispersed a peaceful crowd of social justice protesters in Lafayette. Square, across from the White House.

To make matters worse, Milley wore camouflage military uniforms throughout the incident.

He later apologized saying, "He shouldn't have been there."

Mark Milley testifies during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on March 4, 2020.

But behind the scenes, the book says Milley was on the front lines of trying to protect the country, including an episode in which he tried to stop Trump from firing FBI Director Chris Wray and CIA Director Gina. Haspel.

Leonnig and Rucker recount a scene where Milley was with Trump and his top aides in a suite at the Army and Navy soccer game in December, and he publicly confronted the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.

"What's going on? Are you getting rid of Wray or Gina?" Milley asked.

"Come on boss. What the hell is going on here? What are you guys doing?"

"Don't worry," Meadows said.

"Just a few personnel movements."

"Just be careful," Milley replied, which Leonnig and Rucker wrote was said as a warning that he was watching.

'That doesn't make any sense'

The book also sheds new light on Trump's descent into a dark and isolated void of conspiracy theories and selfish delusions after he was declared the loser of the 2020 election.

After the January 6 uprising, the book says that Milley held a conference call every day with Meadows and then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Leonnig and Rucker report that officials used the calls to compare notes and "collectively scan the horizon for trouble."

"The general theme of these calls was that, against all odds, there will be a peaceful transfer of power on January 20," a senior official told the authors.

"We have a plane - our landing gear is stuck, we have an engine and we have no fuel. We have to land this."

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrive for a Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony for retired four-star Army Gen. Jack Keane at the East Room of the White House on March 10, 2020 in Washington.

Milley told his aides he saw the calls as an opportunity to keep an eye on Trump, the authors write.

Leonnig and Rucker also recount a scene in which Pompeo visited Milley at his home in the weeks leading up to the election, and the two had a heartfelt conversation sitting at the general's table.

Pompeo is quoted as saying, "You know madmen are taking over," according to people familiar with the conversation.

The authors write that Pompeo, through a person close to him, denied making the comments attributed to him and said they did not reflect his views.

In recent weeks, Trump has targeted Milley, who is still the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Biden administration, after he testified before Congress around January 6.

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'You did this, damn it'

The book also contains several surprising anecdotes about prominent women during the Trump presidency, including Republican Representative Liz Cheney, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and former first lady Michelle Obama.

The book details a phone call the day after the January 6 uprising between Milley and Cheney, the Wyoming Republican with close military ties.

Cheney voted to impeach Trump and has been an outspoken critic of his electoral lies, leading to his removal from the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives.

Milley asked Cheney how he was doing.

"That f * cking Jim Jordan guy. That son of a bitch," Cheney said, according to the book.

Cheney bluntly recounted to Milley what he experienced in the House plenary on January 6 as pro-Trump rioters rammed police and raped the Capitol building, including a confrontation with Jordan, a staunch Trump ally in the House that feverishly tried to revoke the elections.

Cheney described his exchange with Jordan to Milley: “As these maniacs go through the place, I'm in the hall and he said, 'We have to get the ladies out of the hall.

Let me help you'.

I smacked him on the hand and said, 'Get away from me.

You did this, damn it. '"

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'Crazy', 'dangerous', 'manic'

The book reveals Pelosi's private conversations with Milley during this delicate period.

When Trump fired Esper in November, Pelosi was one of several lawmakers who called Milley.

"We all trust you," he told her.

"Remember your oath."

After the January 6 insurrection, Pelosi told the general that she was deeply concerned that a "crazy", "dangerous" and "manic" Trump might use nuclear weapons during his final days in office.

"Ma'am, I guarantee these processes are very good," Milley reassured her.

"There is not going to be an accidental firing of nuclear weapons."

"How can you guarantee it?" Pelosi asked.

"Ma'am, there is a process," he said.

"We will only follow legal orders. We will only do things that are legal, ethical and moral."

A week after the insurrection, Pelosi led the second impeachment trial by House Democrats against Trump for inciting the insurrection.

In an interview with the authors, Pelosi said she fears another president will try to continue what Trump left off.

"We could meet someone of his ilk who is sane, and that would be really dangerous, because it could be someone smart, strategic and so forth," Pelosi said.

"This is a slug. He doesn't believe in science. He doesn't believe in governance. He's a snake oil salesman. And he's crafty. Give him credit for his cunning."

'That bitch *'

The book quotes Trump, who had a strained relationship with Merkel, telling his advisers during an Oval Office meeting about NATO and America's relationship with Germany, "that bitch Merkel."

"'I know the whore krauts,' added the president, using a derogatory term for German soldiers of WWI and WWII," write Leonnig and Rucker.

"Then Trump pointed to a framed photograph of his father, Fred Trump, who was on the table behind the Resolute desk and said, 'I was raised by the greatest kraut of all.'

Trump, through a spokesperson, denied the authors having made these comments.

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'Nobody has a bigger smile'

After January 6, Milley participated in a drill with military and law enforcement leaders to prepare for President Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20.

Washington was on lockdown for fear that far-right groups like the Proud Boys might try to violently disrupt the transfer of power.

Milley told a group of senior leaders, "Here's the deal, guys - these guys are Nazis, they're boogaloo boys, they're Proud Boys. They're the same people we fought in WWII. We're going to put a ring on steel around this city and the Nazis will not enter. "

Trump did not attend the inauguration, in a notable break with tradition, and the event was uneventful.

When the inauguration ceremony ended, Kamala Harris, who had just taken office as vice president, paused to thank Milley.

"We all know what you and some others did," he said, according to the authors.

"Thanks."

The book ends with Milley describing his relief that there was no hit, thinking to himself, "Thank God Almighty, we landed the ship safely."

Milley expressed his relief in the moments after Biden was sworn in, speaking to the Obamas sitting on the inauguration stage.

Michelle Obama asked Milley how he felt.

"Nobody has a bigger smile today than me," Milley said, according to Leonnig and Rucker.

"You can't see it under my mask, but I can."

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