Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will announce he is “immediately pulling” retired Gen. Mark Milley’s personal security detail and security clearance, multiple senior administration officials tell Fox News.
The secretary is also directing the new acting Inspector General to conduct a review board to determine if enough evidence exists for Gen. Milley to be stripped of a star in retirement based on his actions to “undermine the chain of command” during President Donald Trump’s first term, officials say.
The Pentagon will also be removing a second portrait of Gen. Milley inside the Pentagon. This one is from the Army’s Marshall Corridor on the third floor honoring his service as chief-of-staff of the Army. Fox is told the removal of this second portrait will take place as soon as tonight. This means there will be no more portraits of Gen. Milley inside the Pentagon.
The first portrait of Gen. Milley, from his time as the U.S. military’s top officer, was removed from the Pentagon last week on Inauguration Day less than two hours after President Trump was sworn into office.
Hegseth will also direct the Defense Department’s Inspector General to conduct a review board to investigate whether Milley should be stripped of a star in his retirement based on his actions to “undermine the chain of command” during Trump’s first term, officials told Fox News.
Trump has been at odds with Milley since his first term in office, when the general made two calls to his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army behind Trump’s back.
“General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay,” Bob Woodward and Robert Costa in their book “Peril” claimed Milley told Li at the time. “We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you.”
Trump has said he was never told about the calls, and claimed Milley could be “tried for TREASON in that he would have been dealing with his Chinese counterpart behind the President’s back and telling China that he would be giving them notification ‘of an attack.’ Can’t do that!” in a 2021 Truth Social post.
Milley has repeatedly spoken out about Trump in public and private, calling him a “dumbass” and a “fascist” in Woodward’s book.
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