Republican senators are renewing calls for the Pentagon’s watchdog to investigate alleged misconduct and efforts to ‘undermine the chain of command’ by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, Fox News Digital has learned.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., penned a letter obtained by Fox News Digital to the acting inspector general of the Department of Defense, Steven Stebbins, renewing their 2022 request for a review of Milley’s conduct.
‘We are writing to ensure that our concerns about alleged misconduct by the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, are finally addressed,’ Grassley and Banks wrote.
The two senators made a request for an independent review of the conduct on Aug. 17, 2022, when Banks was serving as the chair of the House Republican Study Committee, but the review was closed by the former inspector general ‘without ever providing acceptable answers to our questions.’
Grassley and Banks said that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has since ‘revived this review,’ directing the acting inspector general to ‘conduct a review of General Milley’s alleged misconduct, including his actions to ‘undermine the chain of command.’’
Hegseth is also seeking answers on whether ‘enough evidence exists for General Milley to be stripped of a star in retirement.’
‘The Secretary’s request rungs parallel to ours,’ Grassley and Banks wrote, noting that Hegseth’s request ‘takes priority,’ but requested that once his request is complete, they will expect ‘some long overdue answers.’
The senators’ inquiry was triggered by ‘explosive statements’ made by Milley in several books, including ‘Peril’ by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. The book chronicled Milley making ‘disparaging remarks about his Commander-in-Chief’ and attempting ‘to insert himself in the nuclear chain of command despite having no nuclear command authority,’ Grassley and Banks said.
They also referenced a promise Milley made to his Chinese counterparts ahead of any potential U.S. attacks on Beijing.
Fox News Digital reported in 2021 that Milley confirmed that he did, in fact, tell his Chinese counterpart that he would likely call ahead of any potential U.S. attacks on China, but he maintained that he had that conversation at the direction of then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper after assessing intelligence suggesting heightened Chinese concerns about escalation.
Milley added, though, that he was ‘not going to tip off any enemy to what the United States is going to do in an actual plan.’
The book also chronicled comments in which Milley said he believed then-President Donald Trump ‘had gone into serious mental decline … and could go rogue and order military action or use nuclear weapons, without going through required procedures.’
The lawmakers also pointed to the book’s report that Milley had to ‘take any and all necessary precautions’ to prevent the former president from engaging in a ‘rogue’ military action and he ‘wanted to find a way to inject, if not require, that second opinion.’
Grassley and Banks said that the Department of Defense’s former inspector general’s ‘refusal to investigate allowed Milley to dodge responsibility.’
‘The nation’s highest-ranking military officer has a solemn responsibility to set an example of excellence and to model good conduct for all American service members,’ they wrote. ‘The record suggests that General Milley failed to meet those standards.’
Grassley and Banks said Milley’s ‘conduct and willful undermining of his Commander-in-Chief posed a grave threat to civilian control of the military.’
‘The issues raised by Milley’s alleged misconduct are too important to be swept under the rug,’ they wrote. ‘They must be examined, and if substantiated, General Milley should be held accountable.’
Grassley and Banks added that the acting inspector general’s ‘full cooperation would be appreciated.’
Milley did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.