'That's treason': Trump lashes out after general claims to have informed China about possible US attack
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Bob Woodward, in his book, has claimed that Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, was 'certain that Trump had gone into a serious mental decline in the aftermath of the election'
Former US President Donald Trump is back in the headlines for another book controversy. A new book, which is due to be launched in a few days, has claimed that Trump was “going rogue” and experts were scared that he could launch a nuclear war on China.
Trump has lashed out at these allegations and pointed out that Mark Milley performed an act of treason.
The book 'Peril', by veteran Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward — written with Robert Costa — has claimed that Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, was "certain that Trump had gone into a serious mental decline in the aftermath of the election" and informed China about it.
Also read | ‘I guarantee’: Trump claims China, Russia reverse-engineering US weapons left behind in Afghanistan
"If it is actually true, which is hard to believe, that he would have called China and done these things and was willing to advise them in advance of an attack, that's treason," Trump said on a phone call with a local media house.
He also rubbished these allegations saying it is "totally ridiculous" as he never even thought about it. He agreed that there was a lot of anger towards China due to "China virus", but also clarified that this was never even thought to be a plan.
Woodward has written two books before this, 'Fear' and 'Rage', that cover Trump’s presidency. His third book, 'Peril', concentrates on Trump’s final days in the White House and Joe Biden’s start for his first term as the President of the United States.
Following his defeat in the US elections 2020 against Joe Biden, Trump seemed to have 'gone rogue' and Milley believed the former reality TV star had become "all but manic, screaming at officials and constructing his own alternate reality about endless election conspiracies".
He was also scared about Trump launching a nuclear war or an attack on China and Milley had to make calls in secret to his Chinese counterpart, Gen Li Zuocheng, to assure him that the US will not be striking Beijing.
His first call was, reportedly, four days before the election date, i.e., October 30, 2020, and the second call happened two days after Trump’s supporters attacked the US Capitol, on January 8 this year.
"I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be OK. We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you," Milley assured his Chinese counterpart in the first call.
His second call, however, was a bit less assuring as Milley claimed the US was stable but democracy can be sloppy sometimes. "We are 100% steady. Everything’s fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes," Milley said in the call.
"You never know what a president’s trigger point is," Milley said.
Milley also had to re-assure House Speaker Nancy Pelosi regarding the same worries of Trump launching a nuclear war on China, especially after instigating attack on US Capitol.
"What I'm saying to you is that if they couldn't even stop him from an assault on the Capitol, who even knows what else he may do? And is there anybody in charge at the White House who was doing anything but kissing his fat butt all over this?," Pelosi reportedly asked Milley. "You know he's crazy. He's been crazy for a long time."
Trump, however, says this is Milley's attempt at distracting the country from his 'failure in Afghanistan' in which several US army personnel were killed and weapons were left with the Taliban.