(Article by Nicholas Fondacaro republished from NewsBusters.org)
CBS Evening News was the most eager to push Milley’s claims and fears of Trump without a shred of evidence. In her introductory tease, anchor Norah O’Donnell proclaimed that Trump had gone “rogue.” She then praised how “America's top general worried then-President Trump would spark a war with China. We'll tell you the dramatic steps he took to make sure Trump wouldn't launch a nuclear weapon.”
The allegations were made in Peril, a book written by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. And of course, CBS would be the most excited to peddle the story, they’re owned by the same parent company (Viacom) that owned the publisher of the book (Simon & Schuster). It was only when they were well into their report did Pentagon correspondent David Martin admit that fact.
“Milley was so worried Trump might spark a war with China, he placed a secret call to his Chinese counterpart, assuring him the U.S. had no intention of striking,” Martin said. Reading from the book, he boasted about Milley’s aid to China:
"If we're going to attack, I'm going to call you ahead of time," the authors quote Milley as saying. He made a second call to China after the storming of the Capitol saying, "We are 100 percent steady. Everything's fine."
He also touted Milley’s interjection into the chain of command for the nuclear launch codes to subvert America’s civilian leadership. “The book, titled Peril says Milley told nuclear control officers they had to check with him first, no matter what orders they received from the president,” he said.
Over on NBC Nightly News, anchor Lester Holt lauded Milley’s delusions of danger by hyping the “stunning revelations … that America's top military officer was so concerned former President Trump might spark a war with China in his final months in office, he took extraordinary actions.”
Chief Washington correspondent and Democratic Party fan girl, Andrea Mitchell tried to make Milley’s case for him, suggesting it was obvious that Trump was posturing for war:
MITCHELL: Milley's first call last October 30th was prompted by intelligence that China thought the U.S. was prepared to attack because U.S. carriers had carried out military exercises in the South China Sea and Trump was berating China for the coronavirus.
TRUMP: We must hold accountable the nation which unleashed this plague onto the world, China.
Reading from the book, Mitchell gushed (as did CBS) about how Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Milley had secretly coordinated about the chain of command for the nuclear codes:
Also alarmed after January 6th, Speaker Pelosi, who called Milley to ask, according to a transcript obtained by the authors, “what precautions were available to prevent an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or from accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike.” Milley ends up assuring her, “I know the system, and we are okay. The president alone can order the use of nuclear weapons. One person can order it. Several people have to launch it.”
Mitchell omitted the part of Milley’s phone calls where he promised to warn China if America was going to strike.
As for the reporting on ABC’s World News Tonight, chief Washington correspondent Jon Karl did little more than read excerpts. He was also the only one to quote Trump from a Newsmax interview where he accused Milley of committing treason, is the book was accurate.
This support for a treasonous general out to aid America’s enemy was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships Liberty Mutual on CBS and Ensure on NBC. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund. CBS Evening News has also asked people to “text Norah” at this number: (202) 217-1107.
The relevant portions of the transcript are below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Evening NewsSeptember 14, 2021
6:30:38 p.m. Eastern
NORAH O’DONNELL: Trump rogue. The book bombshell. America's top general worried then-President Trump would spark a war with China. We'll tell you the dramatic steps he took to make sure Trump wouldn't launch a nuclear weapon.
(…)
6:34:47 p.m. Eastern
O’DONNELL: And tonight, we are getting an eye-opening account of the tumultuous final days of the Trump administration. It allegedly included secret meetings and phone calls and a top U.S. military leader who was concerned the commander in chief might launch an unnecessary war. Here's CBS's David Martin.
[Cuts to video]
DAVID MARTIN: Last fall, the nation's top military officer, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley, feared then-President Trump might create a crisis that would allow him to declare a national emergency and stay in power, despite losing the election.
One item that sparked Milley's concern was a letter from Trump sent two days after he fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper, directing Milley to pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan in two months.
Even before then, according to a new book by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, published by Simon & Schuster, a division of Viacom CBS, Milley was so worried Trump might spark a war with China, he placed a secret call to his Chinese counterpart, assuring him the U.S. had no intention of striking.
"If we're going to attack, I'm going to call you ahead of time," the authors quote Milley as saying. He made a second call to China after the storming of the Capitol saying, "We are 100 percent steady. Everything's fine."
After the Capitol Riot, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Milley, asking what safeguards were in place to prevent Trump from starting a nuclear war. A transcript of the phone call, obtained by Woodward and Costa, quotes her as saying, "He's crazy." According to the transcript, Milley replied, "I agree with you on everything."
The book, titled Peril says Milley told nuclear control officers they had to check with him first, no matter what orders they received from the president.
(…)
NBC Nightly News
September 14, 2021
7:08:19 p.m. Eastern
Also breaking tonight, stunning revelations in a new book that America's top military officer was so concerned former President Trump might spark a war with China in his final months in office, he took extraordinary actions. Here’s chief Washington correspondent Andrea Mitchell with that.
[Cuts to video]
ANDREA MITCHELL: As reported in Bob Woodward and Robert Costa's book Peril, Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley called his Chinese counterpart, General Li Zuocheng twice in the closing months of the Trump presidency to tell him the U.S. would not strike China.
Milley's first call last October 30th was prompted by intelligence that China thought the U.S. was prepared to attack because U.S. carriers had carried out military exercises in the South China Sea and Trump was berating China for the coronavirus.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We must hold accountable the nation which unleashed this plague onto the world, China.
MITCHELL: Two days after the January 6th insurrection, Milley calls General LI again. Woodward and Costa write, “LI remained unusually rattled, putting the two nations on the ninth edge of disaster.”
MICHAEL SCHMIDT (NYT Washington correspondent): It’s in the aftermath of that, that he sits down with commanders at the Pentagon and goes over with them the procedures for how a nuclear weapon can be used.
MITCHELL: Also alarmed after January 6th, Speaker Pelosi, who called Milley to ask, according to a transcript obtained by the authors, “what precautions were available to prevent an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or from accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike.” Milley ends up assuring her, “I know the system, and we are okay. The president alone can order the use of nuclear weapons. One person can order it. Several people have to launch it.”
(…)
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