In an interview on “60 Minutes” on Wednesday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley said he will take “appropriate measures” to make sure he and his family are safe in the wake of recent comments made by former President Trump.
Milley’s words come after a Truth Social post by Trump last week calling the chairman a “Woke train wreck” and accusing him of treason, seeming to reference calls made by Milley to China for reassurance at the end of Trump’s term.
“This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” Trump’s post read. “A war between China and the United States could have been the result of this treasonous act. To be continued!!!”
“I’ve got adequate safety precautions,” the military leader said in response to a question about his concern about his safety from CBS’s Norah O’Donnell.
Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper expressed his concerns Monday about retaliation by the former president against people whom he has had strife with — such as Milley — if he returns to office, calling them “legitimate.”
“Look, I think it’s a legitimate fear,” Esper told CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins. “If you recall from my memoir … I cite a circumstance where [Trump], egged on by his close advisers, wanted to call back to active duty Adm. McRaven and Gen. McChrystal, to court-martial them, for some things that they allegedly said in in the public domain, and Milley and I had to talk the president out of doing that, for any number of reasons.”
“The president has also said that a second term would be about retribution, right? So, I think these are all legitimate concerns,” he later added.
