Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently spoke to Sean Hannity about the reporting in Bob Woodward and Robert Costa’s book about General Mark Milley’s calls to China.
Hannity asked Pompeo if Milley’s actions would be “treasonous” if the reporting is accurate. Pompeo responded, “I imagine it would be. It would certainly be acting in a way, that you were knowingly acting in a way that was inconsistent with the best interests of the United States government.”
He added, “I hope this didn’t happen the way it’s described in Woodward’s book. I can only say that we need to get to the bottom of this just as quickly as possible.”
During Tuesday’s Senate hearing on Afghanistan, Milley was questioned about his calls to China. He said he made the first call “at Secretary of Defense [Mark] Esper’s direction,” and that eight people sat on that call with him.
As for his second call in January, Milley said, “11 people attended that call with me, and readouts of this call were distributed to the interagency that same day. Shortly after my call ended with General Li, I personally informed both Secretary of State Pompeo and White House Chief of Staff Meadows about the call, among other topics.”
Pompeo joined Megyn Kelly on her podcast Wednesday, and she brought up both Afghanistan and
“He said ‘I told Mike Pompeo that this happened,'” Kelly noted.
After playing the audio of Milley, Pompeo responded, “The disconnect here, Megyn, is the subject. What was actually said.”
“I haven’t seen General Milley knock down what Woodward and Costa wrote. Having said that, I know Woodward and Costa well enough to know you should take everything they write with an enormous grain of salt,” he continued, questioning why Milley spoke to them at all.
He then addressed Milley saying he was in the loop:
I have no recollection of General Milley briefing me in the way that he described, but if he said, ‘Hey, I spoke with my Chinese counterpart yesterday,’ that wouldn’t have been something particularly memorable. It would have been relatively ordinary… If he in fact said we will not attack you until we warn you, that’s just nutty.
“It’s certain that he did not tell Chief Meadows or I that,” Pompeo added.
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