Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley reportedly considered stepping down after being excoriated for his participation in President Donald Trump’s widely panned photo-op at St. John’s Episcopal Church last week.
Unnamed defense officials told NBC News that Milley read the backlash on social media for hours after the photo-op and spoke with confidants about the possibility of resigning.
The officials said Milley was unaware he was headed to a photo-op when he followed Trump to the church, the same claim Defense Secretary Mark Esper made while defending his role in the scandal.
During his speech at the National Defense University commencement ceremony on Thursday, Milley apologized for his involvement in the photo-op and admitted he “should not have been there.”
“As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it,” he said.
The media office at the Joint Chiefs of Staff did not respond to TPM’s request for comment at the time of writing.
I guess he couldn’t handle the truth.
Shorter Milley: I didn’t know what I was doing and was used, and I am humiliated and no one can trust me now. And I thought about stepping down but won’t.
“Considered.” Decisive sort, is he?
Has any news organization reported where Milley and Esper thought they were going when Barr and Trump took them in tow?
“Hey, you twos, get ovah heah, NOW !
The beauty of Trumpism is the using of the “HE SHOULD RESIGN!!!” tactic to install people in the same position more subservient to Trump.
“Competence” is not what Trump is looking for in replacements. He’s looking for subservience, toadiness and destruction…as fast as humanly possible. Rest assured, if Milley resigns, Trump is looking for a person as close to Mike Flynn–in corruption and treason–as possible.
Milley himself?
Millions of Americans are sleeping more soundly because of the apology he issued.