Psaki FIRES BACK At GOP After Calls For Milley To Resign

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki defends Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Milley and reminds Republicans of their Trump era conduct, in the midst of Republican calls for Milleys resignation.

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Q — does President Biden believe that General Milley may have been acting in the national interest by circumventing a former President who he feared was acting erratically?

MS. PSAKI: Well, it’s the obligation of every Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to follow constitutional orders to prevent unlawful military action. That’s what the President believes.

But it’s also important to understand the context of when this reporting was happening, during — and the fact that the former President was fomenting an insurrection and there was broad concern from a range of members of his national security team about his behavior and fitness for office. And I know you all know and have reported on that context, but that is missing a little bit as people are discussing this.

Q So you say General Milley may have been acting patriotically by having these conversations with the Chinese?

MS. PSAKI: Again, I’m not going to give further analysis, other than to say that the President believes he’s patriotic, that he is — his fidelity to our Constitution is unquestionable, and he has complete confidence in him.

Q And has President Biden had a fuller conversation with General Milley about all this, since the book’s details were publicized yesterday?

MS. PSAKI: I don’t have any other further conversations to read out.

Go ahead.

Q Even if the President believes that the intentions and the patriotism of General Milley were in line with his own values, is there a point where criticism makes General Milley unable to continue in this role because it is a new administration, it’s a new day, and there are some questions about if he exceeded his authority?

MS. PSAKI: Well, again, the President has complete confidence in his leadership, his patriotism, and his fidelity to our Constitution. I can’t speak to the former President’s experience with him or the former President’s views of him, but the — this President — this current President, who follows the Constitution, who’s not fomenting an insurrection, who follows the rule of law, has complete confidence in Chairman Milley and him serving — continuing to serve in his role.

Q And even as Republicans may criticize him and have questions about his suitability to continue, would that be a factor that President Biden would consider, separate from his judgment about how he conducted himself before?

MS. PSAKI: I don’t think the President is looking for the guidance of members of Congress who stood by while the — their — the President of their party — the President of the United States and the leader of their party fomented an insurrection and many of them were silent.

Go ahead.

Q Thanks, Jen. I know you’ve spoken about Milley quite a bit, but what is the President’s response to this criticism that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs exceeded his authority, usurped civilian authority? And does there exist any fear that that could happen to any administration, including this administration?

MS. PSAKI: Well, again, this is why I provided the context, right? Because what we’re talking about here: one — let me just restate again — that there are a range of reports in this book — anonymous, unconfirmed.

I realize that the Department of Defense — or I should say, the Joint Staff spokesperson — put out a statement. If you look at that statement, that is really about what the normal channels of communication are, which are important to understand as well, broadly speaking, beyond this book.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs — any Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has channels to communicate with China and Russia. That — those are meant to increase confidence. Those are meant to prevent and deter any — any action that would be — that would be unintended. And that is a good thing because, obviously, we want to prevent nuclear war.

So, what I can speak to, though, is the President’s view of Chairman Milley. And, obviously, Chairman Milley has been by his side for almost eight months. The President’s experience with him is that he is a man of honor. He is a man who’s — the President is confident his leadership, his patriotism, his fidelity to the Constitution. I can’t speak to — and I’m not going to speak to anonymous, unconfirmed, out-of-context reports from the last administration.

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