Nancy Pelosi calls Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to ask about “available precautions” to prevent Donald Trump from launching nukes or other military action abroad before he leaves office.
“This morning, I spoke to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike,” Pelosi said in the letter.
“The situation of this unhinged President could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy,” she added.
Politico
Some reports say she left the phone call feeling confident that Trump would be unable to use his power to initiate war. That’s extremely unlikely.
Mr. Trump, they noted, is still the commander in chief; unless he is removed, the military is bound to follow his lawful orders. While military officials can refuse to carry out orders they view as illegal — or slow the process by sending those orders for careful legal review — they cannot remove the president from the chain of command. That would amount to a military coup, the officials said.
The New York Times
Not long after the phone call, Pelosi tells Congress that Trump must resign to avoid impeachment.
Sources
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/08/pelosi-trump-take-away-nuclear-codes-456529
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/us/politics/trump-pelosi-nuclear-military.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/01/08/nuclear-weapons-nixon-trump-mentally-unstable-pelosi/
Photo: Gage Skidmore
