Rubio demands Biden fire Milley

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in a Tuesday letter called on President Biden to fire Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley over what he said was the “contemplation” of a leak of classified information to China. 

Rubio also criticized Milley for undermining former President Trump with reported communications to China.

The upcoming book “Peril” by Watergate journalist Bob Woodward and Robert Costa of The Washington Post says that Milley called Chinese officials in the final weeks of Trump’s tenure to assure them that the U.S. was under control despite the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of the former president’s supporters. The New York Times published an account of the episode.  

“I write with grave concern regarding recent reporting that General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, worked to actively undermine the sitting Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces and contemplated a treasonous leak of classified information to the Chinese Communist Party in advance of a potential armed conflict with the People’s Republic of China (PRC),” Rubio’s letter said.

“These actions by General Milley demonstrate a clear lack of sound judgement, and I urge you to dismiss him immediately,” he added. 

Rubio specifically referenced the report of Milley saying to his counterpart in China, “You and I have known each other for now five years. If we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise.”

“Peril” also said that Milley feared Trump could “go rogue,” according to CNN.

“General Milley has attempted to rationalize his reckless behavior by arguing that what he perceived as the military’s judgement as more stable than its civilian commander,” Rubio also said in the letter. “It is a dangerous precedent that could be asserted at any point in the future by General Milley or others. It threatens to tear apart our nation’s longstanding principle of civilian control of the military.”