Vindman: We can’t have Milley ‘acting without any oversight, exceeding his authority’
Jenny Goldsberry
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Retired Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman railed against Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley for “exceeding his authority.” Vindman appeared on CNN Tuesday to suggest that the President replace Milley with someone else entirely. Meanwhile, Vindman himself advocated to impeach then President Trump in early 2019.
“There’s no question about the fact there needed to be a better check on Donald Trump,” Vindman told host Chris Cuomo. “That should have occurred, frankly, on two occasions which the Senate should have held him accountable, following impeachment, removed him from office. That did not happen. That’s the way the system is supposed to work. Ultimately, the American public held the president accountable and removed him from office by voting in a new president.”
However, upon reports that Milley kept military weapons away from Trump, Vindman sounded an alarm. “What we can’t have is we can’t have senior military officer acting without any oversight, exceeding his authorities, without civilian control,” Vindman said. “This is a sacrosanct principle. What happens in a different situation the chairman of the joint chiefs acts in what he believes is his best interests? We find ourselves in a slippery slope.”
Therefore, Vindman went on to call for Milley’s replacement. “Simply put, even if he did this for the right reasons, he did the wrong thing. Now he is toxic,” he said. “What’s clear to me is frankly Chairman Milley is tainted . . . There are better candidates to run the military. Folks that are less polarizing. I don’t think we need one that has so much baggage at the moment.”
This reported oversight comes from Bob Woodward and Robert Costa’s book “Peril.” It will be released September 21st.
You can follow Jenny Goldsberry on Twitter @jennyjournalism.
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