Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley has finally given his denial regarding the claim that he pledged to the Chinese to commit treason in order to undermine Donald Trump. As RedState previously reported, a quote from Bob Woodward’s new book showed Milley had promised a Chinese general that he would tip him off of any incoming American attack. This was part of an intricate plan pushed by Nancy Pelosi and others for Milley to essentially operate as a military dictator.

Now, after a day of letting the story simmer, Milley is personally denying the charge. Or is he? You be the judge and then we’ll dive into the details.

NEW statement from Milley spokesman Col. Dave Butler:

“The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs regularly communicates with Chiefs of Defense across the world, including with China and Russia…"

1/?

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) September 15, 2021

3/? "…His calls with the Chinese and others in October and January were in keeping with these duties and responsibilities conveying reassurance in order to maintain strategic stability…"

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) September 15, 2021

5/? "…Also in keeping with his responsibilities as senior military advisor to the President and Secretary of Defense, General Milley frequently conducts meetings with uniformed leaders across the Services to ensure all leaders are aware of current issues…"

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) September 15, 2021

7/7 "…General Milley continues to act and advise within his authority in the lawful tradition of civilian control of the military and his oath to the Constitution.”

THE END

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) September 15, 2021

Here’s the thing with denials. It’s typically useful when giving one to actually deny the activity you are being accused of. Instead of Milley doing that in this statement, we see a flurry of qualifiers and weasel language that mirror Jennifer Griffin’s Pentagon stenography.

What don’t we see? Any reassurance that he did follow the proper chain of command by notifying the president of his actions. Milley also does not claim that he didn’t tell the Chinese what Woodward says he told the Chinese. In other words, this denial isn’t a denial at all. Rather, it’s confirmation that he did do what he was accused of.

So where does that leave us? It leaves us with ridiculous arguments over whether Milley was justified or not in doing what he did. I maintain that there can be no justification for quite literally pledging to commit treason, no matter how much you hate or distrust the president. If Milley was concerned about an unlawful order, he was within his rights to refuse it, resign, and go public. That he didn’t do that only undercuts his claims of justification.

Notice in the second tweet that Milley (via a spokesperson) claims that he was assuring the Chinese understood our national security interests. But those are not Milley’s interests to dictate. We elect a president for a reason, and that’s to be the civilian head of the military and to lead the nation’s foreign policy. Milley was not elected and he had no right to do what he did. It’s also not even his job to inform people of nuclear protocols, though, that’s far less of an issue here than the talks with the Chinese.

It’s clear that Milley was a delusional man run amok. He had convinced himself he was standing against a coming revolution when all he was really doing was violating the constitutional order to feed his own ego. Further, it’s fairly obvious that his talks with Nancy Pelosi were to ingratiate himself so he could keep his job in the next administration. There’s a reason Milley is pushing critical race theory in the military. He’s a political actor concerned with staying in power, not with actually helping keep the military in a condition where it can perform its legal role.