Former President Donald Trump stated on Friday that he "never" considered attacking China, adding that General Mark Milley "should be tried for treason" if he did call the Chinese military to pledge an early warning in case of an attack.
Trump, rather unexpectedly, issued a statement via e-mail to reporters and his Telegram channel, commenting on the September scandal over the fact of Costa and Woodward's book release and that Milley, the top US general, admitted to giving such assurances to the People's Liberation Army's General Li Zuocheng during a House committee hearing in September.
"Does anybody really believe that longtime Con Man Bob Woodward, and his lightweight lapdog assistant Robert Costa, are implying in their book of fiction that I was planning to go to war with China, but that one of the dumber generals in the military called the Chinese to tell them that he will inform them if this action proceeds further," Trump said.
According to the former president, "Milley may have called, but if so, he should be tried for treason."
In what might be perceived as his typical teasing of a potential presidential election rematch in 2024, Trump added that the US "has been taken over by Scammers and Hoaxsters," and it has to be taken back.
The former president blasted his rumored intentions to start a war with China as "ridiculous," noting that some of the previous allegations, such as the "Russia, Russia, Russia Scam" have been rebutted as "a FAKE Democrat/Crooked Hillary Plot."
Back in September, the 45th had
already addressed reports of Milley speaking with Chinese officials on two separate occasions to discuss the likelihood of a US assault. Trump at the time said that although it was "hard to believe" that Milley backchannelled with the Chinese, it
would be treason, if he did.
And Milley revealed shortly after in September that
he promised his Chinese colleague that if Trump ordered an assault on China, he would warn him in advance, reassuring his Chinese counterpart that the US was "not going to attack you."
Milley first spoke to Li on October 20, 2020, and in that call, he assured the Chinese general that he would
"call you ahead of time," in case the US was to launch an attack.
Milley called again on January 8, two days after a crowd of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol to prevent the Electoral College from certifying Joe Biden's victory. On that occasion, he told Li that although "democracy can be sloppy sometimes," everything was "fine."
Also in September this year, Milley's office
noted in a statement that given the general "regularly communicates with Chiefs of Defense across the world, including with China and Russia," the calls with Li "and others in October and January were in keeping with these duties and responsibilities conveying reassurance in order to maintain strategic stability."
Despite the
public outcry, Biden
has made his thoughts towards Milley quite apparent, saying that he had "great confidence in General Milley."