Retiring Gen. Mark Milley said he has personal security measures in place, and will take other steps, in response to Donald Trump's suggestion that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff deserves to be executed. In a 60 Minutes interview scheduled to air Sunday, Axios reports, CBS' Norah O'Donnell asked Milley about Trump's comments last week labeling the general, whose term as chairman ends this month, a traitor because of his past communications with China's government. In an online post, Trump said Milley's actions were "so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!"
Mark Esper, who was one of Trump's defense secretaries, told CNN on Monday that he also worries about the former president retaliating against people he's clashed with, including Milley—whom Trump picked for the job. "I think it's a legitimate fear," Esper said, per the Hill. He said his memoir includes an account of Trump, while in office, wanting to call a general and admiral back to active duty so he could have them court-martialed for public statements they'd made. Trump has talked about retribution on the campaign trail, to be carried out if he returns to the Oval Office.
Asked in the CBS interview whether he had done "anything inappropriate or treasonous" in his contacts with China, Milley answered, "Absolutely not. Zero. None." He had initiated the conversation near the end of Trump's term, when he wanted to reassure China that no US attack was planned despite Chinese intelligence suggesting otherwise. "As much as these comments are directed at me," Milley said this week, "it's also directed at the institution of the military." Everyone in the military, he said, "from private to general," will uphold the Constitution, whatever the threats. In the meantime, he said, "I'll take appropriate measures to ensure my safety and the safety of my family." (More Mark Milley stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
