From the article.
But Fox News spoke with multiple individuals who were in the room during the two phone calls Milley had with Li. The calls, in October, were coordinated with then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s office.
"They were not secret," a U.S. official told Fox News about the calls, which took place over video teleconference.
Fox News has learned there were about 15 people present for the calls. Sources told Fox News that there were multiple notetakers present, and said the calls were both conducted with full knowledge of then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper and then-acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller – something Miller denied.
Originally Posted by 1blackman1
How does ANY of this justify INSUBOARDNATION...IT DOESN"T the President is the COMMANDER-IN-CHEIF!!
Do you have ANY idea how the chain of command works...obviously NOT!!
Truman made the FINAL decision to drop the A bomb...it wouldn't have happened with out HIS approval.
Don't sugar coat ANYTHING. A quote from this article...
“blanket policy at the time not to have high-level engagement with the Chinese on matters like this,” and added that Miller and his office were “not told in advance of any call to the Chinese specifically.”
Former chief of staff for the Department of Defense Kash Patel called it literally treasonous, saying “the law governing the Joint Chiefs of Staff specifically forbids the chairman from exercising any operational command authority.”
“Congress put this in the statute because the U.S. military is to be led by a civilian, the commander-in-chief,” Patel continued. “Furthermore, by law, the national command authority goes from the president to the secretary of Defense to include anything relating troop deployments, operations in theaters of war, and nuclear command.”
Patel added that if the calls with China are true, Milley “has violated the law regarding operational authority.”
“Calling a foreign counterpart and discussing operational capabilities against that enemy is literally treasonous,” Patel said. “The White House, nor the Office of the Secretary of Defense authorized the chairman to conduct any calls with Chinese officials regarding operations.” [….]
Deputy chief of staff to the Department of Defense Joe Francescon also told Fox News that it was “the policy at the time that there was no senior government engagement with China, owing to their bad acts and efforts.”
Francescon added that it was the “blanket policy at the time not to have high-level engagement with the Chinese on matters like this,” and added that Miller and his office were “not told in advance of any call to the Chinese specifically.”
“At most, they were presented that Milley was calling foreign allies and partners to reassure them,” he said.
Milley’s spokesperson’s statement not only dug him a hole on this subject of speaking to the Chinese on this matter, but he also revealed that Milley had regular conversations with Chinese and Russians.
Fox News has learned that Milley had up to 20 phone calls with Li and NATO allies in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot in an effort to reassure them that the U.S. government was stable, and to reassure China that the U.S. did not plan a surprise attack – all in an effort to lower tensions with China during the interim period between the election and inauguration, and to project stability so that adversaries of the U.S. did not take advantage of the domestic turmoil during that period.
If that’s true, then again, this is completely wrong and requires even more investigation, because it isn’t within his authority to conduct foreign policy outside the purview of the president.
The greater problem? He may still be operating this way. Joe Biden has not only not called out these actions, but he’s thrown his support behind Milley, saying he has confidence in him.
