‘Always whispering devilish ideas in the king’s ear’: Gen. Milley had a low opinion of Stephen Miller, new book says

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Gen. Mark Milley appears to not have been a fan of former Trump White House advisor Stephen Miller and thought of him as “a Rasputin character, always whispering devilish ideas in the king’s ear,” according to an excerpt from a new book documenting Trump’s last days in office. 

According to Business Insider, the highlighted excerpt comes from the new book “I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year.”Authored by Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Phillip Rucker, the book sheds light on some of Milley’s concerns, and based on the writers’ reporting, the top-ranking general had shared his concerns about Miller with his aides.

Per the publication:

“Milley likened Miller to the villainous Grigori Rasputin, an influential Russian political figure also called the “Mad Monk,” who held significant influence over the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family. The self-professed holy man was later murdered by aristocrats.” Continue reading.

Milley to Trump: “I don’t expect you to understand”

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The new book by The Wall Street Journal’s Michael Bender — “Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost” — pinpoints the moment that the relationship between former President Trump and Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley began to disintegrate.

  • It came last year during a fiery Oval Office confrontation over Milley’s public apology for appearing in a photo op with Trump at St. John’s Church:

“Why did you apologize?” Trump asked him. “That’s weak.”

“Not where I come from,” Milley said. “It had nothing to do with you. It had to do with me and the uniform and the apolitical tradition of the United States military.”

Continue reading.

Scoop: Generals privately brief news anchors, promise no military role in election

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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley held an off-the-record video call with top generals and network anchors this weekend to tamp down speculation about potential military involvement in the presidential election, two people familiar with the call tell Axios.

Why it matters: The nation’s top military official set up Saturday’s highly unusual call to make clear that the military’s role is apolitical, one of the sources said — and to dispel any notion of a role for the military in adjudicating a disputed election or making any decision around removing a president from the White House.

  • Milley told the anchors that the U.S. military would have no role whatsoever in a peaceful transfer of power, one source added.