Two New Developments Again Confirm That Trumps Defenses Are Cracking
Washington (CNN)The top The states general repeatedly pushed back on then-President Donald Trump's statement that the military should intervene violently in social club to quell the civil unrest that erupted around the country concluding yr. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley frequently constitute he was the lonely vocalization of opposition to those demands during heated Oval Office discussions, co-ordinate to excerpts of a new book, obtained by CNN, from Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender.
Titled "Frankly, Nosotros Did Win This Election: The Within Story of How Trump Lost," the book reveals new details well-nigh how Trump'southward linguistic communication became increasingly tearing during Oval Office meetings as protests in Seattle and Portland began to receive attention from cable new outlets. The President would highlight videos that showed police force enforcement getting physical with protesters and tell his administration he wanted to come across more of that behavior, the excerpts show.
"That's how you're supposed to handle these people," Trump told his top constabulary enforcement and military officials, according to Bender. "Crack their skulls!"
Trump also told his team that he wanted the war machine to get in and "beat the f--k out" of the civil rights protesters, Bough writes.
"Just shoot them," Trump said on multiple occasions inside the Oval Function, according to the excerpts.
When Milley so-Attorney General William Barr would push dorsum, Trump toned it down, simply just slightly, Bough adds.
"Well, shoot them in the leg—or maybe the foot," Trump said. "But exist hard on them!"
The new details virtually how Milley and a handful of other senior officials were forced to confront Trump's increasingly volatile beliefs during the final months of his presidency only add to an already detailed portrait of dysfunction inside the White House at that fourth dimension.
It too underscores the level of tension betwixt Trump and top Pentagon officials leading up to the presidential election terminal November.
CNN has reached out to Trump most the claims in Bender's volume. A spokesperson for Milley declined to comment.
At times, Milley also clashed with pinnacle White Firm officials who sought to encourage the then-President's beliefs.
During one Oval Function debate, senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller chimed in, equating the scenes unfolding on his television to those in a tertiary-globe land and challenge major American cities had been turned into state of war zones.
"These cities are burning," Miller warned, according to the excerpts.
The annotate infuriated Milley, who viewed Miller as non merely wrong just out of his lane, Bender writes, noting the Army full general who had allowable troops in Republic of iraq and Afghanistan spun around in his seat and pointed a finger directly at Miller.
"Shut the f--k up, Stephen," Milley snapped, according to the excerpts.
'What we have, Mr. President, is a protest'
CNN previously reported that concerns within the Pentagon about Trump'southward potential to make unpredictable decisions during the entrada and beyond reached a humid bespeak last September.
While Milley was among those who were particularly distressed nearly Trump's attacks on senior Pentagon leaders, he was said to be on good terms with the President.
Withal, Milley made a concerted effort to stay in Washington as much equally possible during those concluding months. A significant concern for Milley at the time was how to advise Trump if he decided to invoke the Insurrection Act in the wake of civil unrest -- a motility that would accept war machine strength on the streets confronting civilians.
Ultimately, Trump never invoked the Coup Act only repeatedly suggested doing and then during the end of his tenure -- putting Milley and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper in a complicated situation each time.
Both Milley and Esper were deeply opposed to the idea when Trump kickoff suggested it terminal June following protests against constabulary brutality and racial injustice in the wake of George Floyd'due south decease.
According to Bender, Milley viewed the unrest around Floyd's expiry as a political trouble, not a military machine one.
He told the President at that place were more than enough reserves in the National Guard to support constabulary enforcement responding to the protests. Milley told him that invoking the Insurrection Human activity would shift responsibility for the protests from local authorities directly to the President, co-ordinate to the excerpts obtained past CNN.
Milley spotted President Abraham Lincoln'south portrait hanging just to the right of Trump and pointed direct at it, Bender writes.
"That guy had an coup," Milley said. "What we have, Mr. President, is a protestation."
Milley offers public rebuke of Republicans lawmakers
Those comments have taken on new relevance months after the January 6 assail, when pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden'south electoral win.
Trump'due south Republican allies in Congress have staunchly opposed any efforts to investigate the sometime President'south function in fueling the insurrection, with some simply denying there was anything fierce about the protests that mean solar day.
Recently, some of those aforementioned lawmakers have also criticized the Department of Defence'due south diversity efforts and declared cover of the "disquisitional race theory."
While testifying publicly before the House Armed services Committee on Wednesday, Milley, who remains in his post as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, offered a forceful rebuke of Republican members over their comments related to both issues.
Responding to a question from Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida about the ceremoniousness of a seminar at the Usa Military Academy at W Indicate called "Agreement Whiteness and White Rage," Milley said: "I want to empathize White rage. And I'm White. And I want to empathize information technology."
Tying the question to the January half dozen insurrection, Milley asked: "What is it that caused thousands of people to attack this building and try to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America? What acquired that? I want to notice that out. I want to maintain an open heed here."
Milley chosen information technology "offensive" that service members were being called "quote, 'woke' or something else, because nosotros're studying some theories that are out there."
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/24/politics/bender-book-trump-milley-protests/index.html
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