Former President Donald Trump lashed out against Gen. Mark Milley on Thursday, following reports Milley compared Trump to Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler and believed Trump would attempt a coup to retain power.
According to a new book out next week, Milley had planned ways to prevent Trump from carrying out a coup attempt. In an emailed statement, Trump criticized Milley’s alleged coup concerns, writing, “Despite massive Voter Fraud and Irregularities during the 2020 Presidential Election Scam, that we are now seeing play out in very big and important States, I never threatened, or spoke about, to anyone, a coup of our Government.”
“So ridiculous!” Trump said of the alleged coup concerns. “Sorry to inform you, but an Election is my form of ‘coup,’ and if I was going to do a coup, one of the last people I would want to do it with is General Mark Milley.”
Trump went on to say he only nominated Milley to serve as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff because he was disliked by former President Barack Obama and Trump’s former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
Trump said Milley “got his job only because the world’s most overrated general, James Mattis, could not stand him, had no respect for him, and would not recommend him. To me the fact that Mattis didn’t like him, just like Obama didn’t like him and actually fired Milley, was a good thing, not a bad thing. I often act counter to people’s advice who I don’t respect.”
Trump said he ultimately lost respect for Milley after a controversial incident in which Milley appeared in photographs alongside Trump shortly after federal police officers cleared demonstrators from Lafayette Square in Washington D.C.
Milley apologized for appearing in the photo with Trump in Lafayette Square, amid accusations Trump ordered riot police to clear the area for a deliberate photo opportunity.
A June inspector general report said investigations of the Lafayette Square-clearing incident “did not support a finding that the [U.S. Park Police] cleared the park to allow the President to survey the damage and walk to St. John’s Church. Instead, the evidence we reviewed showed that the USPP cleared the park to allow the contractor to safely install the antiscale fencing in response to destruction of property and injury to officers occurring on May 30 and 31.”
On Thursday, Trump wrote, “Milley choked like a dog in front of the Fake News when they told him they thought he should not have been walking with the President, which turned out to be incorrect. He apologized profusely, making it a big story, instead of saying I am proud to walk with and protect the President of the United States. Had he said that, it would have all been over, no big deal, but I saw at that moment he had no courage or skill, certainly not the type of person I would be talking ‘coup’ with. I’m not into coups!”
Trump also said he was disappointed by Milley’s support for renaming U.S. military installations named for Confederate military leaders. “I said to him, ‘spend more time thinking about China and Russia, and less time on being politically correct.'”
“But never during my Administration did Milley display what he is showing now. He was not ‘woke,'” Trump added in his concluding remarks about Milley. “Actually, I don’t believe he ever was, but the way I look at Milley, he’s just a better politician than a general, trying to curry favor with the Radical Left and the absolute crazy people espousing a philosophy which will destroy our Country!”
Milley stirred controversy last month when he appeared to suggest “white rage” was a motive behind demonstrators storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Milley said, “I want to understand white rage, and I’m white, and I want to understand it. So, what is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building, and try to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America? What caused that? I want to find that out.”
In June, Trump said Milley has been sharing false claims about their prior interaction in an attempt to “impress the Radical Left and keep his job.” Trump also said, “Milley ought to resign.”
