The top Pentagon official was so worried about Donald Trump's mental state in the final days of his tenure that he secretly took steps to avoid war with China.
US Chief of Staff General Mark Milley took the initiative to secretly telephone his Chinese counterpart to assure him that the United States would not attack China, say Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa in their book “Peril”, to be published in the coming days.
With the American intelligence services concluding that China considered an American attack imminent, the chief of staff called General Li Zuocheng twice: on October 30, shortly before the American presidential election, and on January 8, two days after the assault by supporters of Donald Trump on the Capitol.
"General Li, I want to assure you that the American state is stable and that everything will be fine," he told her, according to this book based on the anonymous testimonies of 200 American officials.
"We are not going to attack or conduct military operations against you."
General Milley recalled his Chinese counterpart two months later, as the behavior of Donald Trump, furious at his electoral defeat, appeared more and more erratic.
“Everything is fine,” he told her.
“But democracy is sometimes messy.
"
An "oath" with officers
According to excerpts from the book published by the Washington Post and CNN, General Milley also made his deputies promise not to immediately obey a possible extreme order from Donald Trump, in particular on the use of nuclear weapons, after the electoral defeat of the Republican president on November 3 against Joe Biden. General Milley thus assembled the general staff to stress that, if the Republican president ordered a nuclear strike, he had to be informed first. Looking them each in the eye, he asked all the assembled officers to confirm that they understood correctly, add Woodward and Costa, according to which it was an "oath".
He also asked CIA Director Gina Haspel and Chief Military Intelligence General Paul Nakasone to monitor any erratic behavior by Donald Trump. General Milley, like Haspel, feared that Donald Trump would launch an attack on China or Iran to create a crisis and thus try to stay in power. "The situation is very dangerous," said the director of the CIA. "Are we going to attack for his ego?" "
“Some may think that Milley overstepped his authority and assigned himself excessive powers,” write the authors of “Peril”.
But he was convinced that he was doing what was necessary "so that there is no historic rupture in the international order, of accidental war with China or others, and that nuclear weapons do not. would not be used, ”they add.
When questioned, the American staff refrained from commenting.
"He is crazy"
The second call from the Chief of Staff to General Li came the day after a telephone conversation with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who wanted to make sure Donald Trump, on whom no member of his entourage couldn't seem to have control, couldn't use nuclear codes.
Hundreds of pro-Trump protesters and members of extremist groups had just attacked Congress as parliamentarians gathered to certify the victory of Democrat Joe Biden.
Attack as a result of which five people died.
Pelosi had publicly reported on this call, in a letter to his parliamentary group, but without going into details.
Bob Woodward and Robert Costa publish the transcript of the telephone conversation:
"What are the possible measures to prevent an unbalanced president from starting armed hostilities or from gaining access to codes and ordering a nuclear attack," asks Nancy Pelosi. - "If they can't even stop him from attacking the Capitol, who knows what else he can do?" She adds. " He is crazy. You know he is mad (…), and what he did yesterday is further proof of his madness ”. "I completely agree with you," General Milley replied. But, he assures him, the nuclear chain of command goes through "a lot of controls" to avoid the misuse of the bomb by a president.