{"id":26461,"date":"2021-09-20T18:51:20","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T18:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/09\/20\/attacks-on-joint-chiefs-chairman-are-ridiculously-overblown-key-democrat-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T06:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:41:13","slug":"attacks-on-joint-chiefs-chairman-are-ridiculously-overblown-key-democrat-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/09\/20\/attacks-on-joint-chiefs-chairman-are-ridiculously-overblown-key-democrat-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Attacks on Joint Chiefs chairman are \u2018ridiculously overblown,\u2019 key Democrat says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee on Monday blasted concerns about Joint Chiefs <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/09\/15\/lawmakers-call-for-milleys-resignation-after-report-he-worked-to-undermine-trumps-military-authority\/\" target=\"_blank\">Chairman Gen. Mark Milley\u2019s<\/a> contact with Chinese military officials during the waning days of President Donald Trump\u2019s administration as \u201cridiculously overblown\u201d and unfair to the senior Pentagon leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., made the comments in response to questions from Republican lawmakers on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/07\/11\/this-week-in-congress-july-schedule-packed-with-ndaa-and-defense-budget-work\/\" target=\"_blank\">House Rules Committee<\/a> during a hearing on the committee\u2019s draft of the annual defense authorization bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At least 25 GOP lawmakers in the House have called for an investigation into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/09\/14\/milley-warned-defense-leaders-that-trump-could-order-an-unwarranted-nuke-strike-book\/\" target=\"_blank\">Milley\u2019s actions<\/a> \u2014 and potentially his resignation \u2014 after a new book on the Trump presidency alleged he spoke to Chinese military leaders to reassure them that American forces were not planning any assault as the U.S. commander-in-chief\u2019s behavior grew more erratic after losing re-election.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/09\/15\/lawmakers-call-for-milleys-resignation-after-report-he-worked-to-undermine-trumps-military-authority\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP21244651108571.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Milley denies wrongdoing amid calls for his resignation over details in new book<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">A new book to be released next week says Milley took steps to guard against Trump launching a questionable military strike in the final days of his presidency.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition, Trump last week called Milley a \u201cdumbass\u201d and suggested he be tried for treason. But Trump simultaneously attacked the book as \u201cfiction, not fact\u201d and cast doubt on any of the allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The account, written by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, also reports that Milley warned senior Pentagon leaders that Trump was unstable and ordered them to ensure he was included in any military actions authorized by Trump, including possible nuclear strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Milley and senior defense leaders have defended the actions as routine and not insubordination or treason. The Joint Chiefs chairman told the Associated Press last week that his calls to Chinese officials were \u201croutine\u201d and designed to \u201creassure both allies and adversaries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smith echoed that in his comments on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on a fairly regular basis, looks for ways to talk to our adversaries to hopefully avoid conflict,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was nothing secret about these phone calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c[At the time] there was cause or concern across the globe about what was going on here, and [Milley] was doing his job to try to make sure that nerves were kept calm \u2026 What actually happened was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff doing his job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/09\/14\/milley-warned-defense-leaders-that-trump-could-order-an-unwarranted-nuke-strike-book\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"204\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1179668594.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Milley warned defense leaders that Trump could order an unwarranted nuke strike: book<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The claims are part of a new volume on the final days of the Trump presidency by journalist Bob Woodward.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, said that he has heard numerous concerns from colleagues and constituents about Milley\u2019s actions, and urged more investigation into the matter. Burgess is not among the lawmakers who had previously called for Milley\u2019s removal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smith has said he is in contact with Milley on the issue, and Milley is expected to address the issues during an appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Sept. 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Milley was a surprise pick by Trump to take over as Joint Chiefs Chairman in 2019, but the two later sparred behind the scenes on issues like military use on U.S. soil and politicization of service members.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith says Gen. Mark Milley was just doing his job when he spoke to Chinese military leaders last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":55166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":62,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,89,12,26,62],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3222],"class_list":["post-26461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"7ETVTOLGCJFRZO3PURMJPIW5AU","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/09\/20\/attacks-on-joint-chiefs-chairman-are-ridiculously-overblown-key-democrat-says\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Attacks on Joint Chiefs chairman are \u2018ridiculously overblown,\u2019 key Democrat says - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith says Gen. 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