‘If I Was Going to Do a Coup…’ Trump Slams General Milley, Says He Would Never Do a Coup With Him

OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP

Former President Donald Trump pushed back hard on recent reports that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley was openly concerned that the 45th President would start a coup to keep the White House.

Details have emerged from several tell-all books published this week. On Wednesday evening, specific reports emerged of General Milley’s great concern about Trump during his final days in office.

“I never threatened, or spoke about, to anyone, a coup of our Government. So ridiculous! ” Trump said via statement. “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 further dismisses Milley in the statement, citing a June 2020 event when Milley joined Trump in a photo op at St. John’s church, the participation of which Milly later publicly apologized. Afterward, Trump claims to have told Milley, “spend more time thinking about China and Russia, and less time on being politically correct.”

I Alone Can Fix This, written by Washington Post’s Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, reports that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff saw Trump as “the classic authoritarian leader with nothing to lose.” Gen. Milley reportedly told aides, “This is a Reichstag moment,” and “The gospel of the Führer.”

Milley reportedly expressed worry that the termination of Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and the resignation of Bill Barr were signs that the wheels might be coming off the republic and that the Joint Chiefs discussed resigning one at a time instead of carrying out orders from Trump they felt were illegal.

The book describes a daily conference call held after the January 6 insurrection that included and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to “collectively survey the horizon for trouble.” A senior official told Leonnig and Rucker, “The general theme of these calls was, come hell or high water, there will be a peaceful transfer of power on January twentieth.”

“They may try, but they can’t fucking succeed,” Milley told his subordinates at one point. “You can’t do this without the military. You can’t do this without the CIA and the FBI. We are the guys with the guns.”

Read the full statement from Trump below:

Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America

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! 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. He 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.

In any event, I lost respect for Milley when we walked together to St. John’s Church (which was still smoldering from a Radical Left fire set the day before), side by side, a walk that has now been proven to be totally appropriate—and the following day 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!

In fact, around the same time Milley, in a conversation, was an advocate of changing all of the names of our Military Forts and Bases. I realized then, also, he was a much different person than I had hoped. 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.” 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!

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