John Bolton praised Gen. Milley after attacks from Trump over secret calls to China meant to avert a possible war
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- Trump's former national security advisor, John Bolton, defended General Mark Milley.
- It came after news that Milley secretly contacted China, fearing Trump was about to start a war.
- Milley has been accused of treason by Trump, and Republicans have called on him to resign.
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John Bolton, former national security advisor to President Donald Trump, defended Gen. Mark Milley after he was accused of treason by Trump and his allies for his conduct around the 2020 election.
In late 2020, Milley made calls to his counterpart in China to reassure them that the US had no intention of starting a conflict.
According to a new book, Milley feared that without such intervention Trump could accidentally start a war.
The revelation prompted a furious response from Trump and his circle, and also for Bolton and others to spring to Milley's defense.
In a statement Wednesday, he said of Milley, who remained chairman of the joint chiefs of staff when Joe Biden took officer, that his "patriotism is unquestioned" and that he is a "staunch supporter of the Constitution and the rule of law."
-John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) September 15, 2021
"In the days after Donald Trump's November 3, 2020, election defeat, I can only imagine the pressures he and others were under in fulfilling their Constitutional obligations," Bolton wrote.
"I have no doubt General Milley consulted widely with his colleagues on the National Security Council and others during this period."
"I would also be very surprised if many of them were not fully aware of General Milley's actions, and that they fully concurred in them," Bolton said.
Bolton served as national security advisor from April 2018 to September 2019, and had been replaced by the time of the election.
After leaving the job he published a memoir, "The Room Where it Happened," in which he described what he claims was the chaos and dysfunction of Trump's national security policy.
Milley's two calls to China were first reported in "Peril," a new book by reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa about the tumultuous final months of the Trump administration.
The calls were confirmed as true in a later statement where officials defended Milley's actions as within the scope of his role.
In "Peril," Woodward and Costa describe Milley taking a series of extraordinary steps to avoid Trump causing a conflict.
Per the book, they included establishing a back channel with a top Chinese general and also holding a special Pentagon meeting in the wake of the January 6 riot to avoid a nuclear war.
Milley was deeply concerned, according to the authors, about Trump's mental stability after his election defeat last year, which he sought to overturn the result by making baseless allegations of election fraud.
Milley has been the focus of attacks from Trump, his allies, and other Republicans since excerpts of the book were published this week, with the former president calling him a "traitor."
Amid calls for Milley to resign, President Joe Biden at a press conference Wednesday said he had "great confidence" in the general.