US Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.
WASHINGTON, DC (WTAQ) — Wisconsin Republican US Senator Ron Johnson is calling for the resignation of General Mark Milley.
General Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made phone calls to a Chinese Military General, Li Zuocheng, reportedly assuring him that he would be warned of any possible American attack during the last days of the Trump administration.
Milley has defended making calls to the general.
“From what I’ve heard, it’s damning enough. I don’t think we need to vet it further,” Johnson told WTAQ in a Friday interview. “I think General Milley should resign. I think he should resign now, personally.”
Milley said that the calls were made to reassure the Chinese military.
Johnson says that General Milley’s concerns about an attack following President Donald Trump losing the 2020 election were unfounded.
“Of any President I’m aware of, I think Donald Trump was less likely to start a way with a country,” said Johnson.
General Mark Milley, then the US Army’s Chief of Staff, inspects troops of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Center left is PLA General Li Zuocheng, with whom he reportedly exchanged secret phone calls with during the waning days of the Trump administration. (Credit: US Army)
Johnson argued that President Trump typically showed restraint in using military action during his tenure, pointing to the 2019 incident in which Iranian Air Defense Forces shot down a US surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz.
“The military and everyone geared up for a retaliatory strike,” Johnson said. “President Trump was the one who said, ‘hold on here, how many people will die?’ And when they said 150, President Trump said ‘nah, it isn’t worth it.’”
President Trump ended his tenure as the first president since Jimmy Carter, who left office in 1981, not to enter the United States into a new overseas conflict.
“If General Milley had concerns about President Trump, he should have resigned and expressed those concerns publicly, like General [James] Mattis did.” Johnson said. “That would have been the thing to do with integrity.”
Milley’s phone call has been detailed in an upcoming book, “Peril,” by journalist Bob Woodward and Washington Post reporter Robert Costa.
