It seems former President Joe Biden (how good is it to say those words?) and his blanket preemptive pardons won’t extend to Mark Milley’s portrait at least.
Milley, the retired Army general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who on several occasions subverted orders from his Commander-in-Chief, had his portrait removed from the Pentagon within two hours of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
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The portrait’s removal has been confirmed by CNN and Reuters. It had been revealed just 10 days ago.
Update: this Milley portrait is no longer up in the Pentagon hallway, just 10 days after it was unveiled… h/t @OrenCNN https://t.co/ji77T3Np6l pic.twitter.com/DdUeEEZ9zR
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) January 20, 2025
Former United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the unveiling of Milley’s portrait last Sunday.
“We unveiled the portrait of U.S. Army (Ret.) General Mark Milley, the 20th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Austin wrote on X.
“Mark, it was good to see you back at the Pentagon. Thanks again for all you have given in service to our nation,” he added. “I wish you Godspeed in the chapters to come.”
One of the “chapters to come” ended up being an eleventh-hour pardon granted by Biden that would presumably shield him from any potential criminal investigation.
NEW: Biden Pardons Fauci, Milley, Cheney, Others in Shocking Abuse of Presidential Power
Of those pardoned by Biden, Milley stands out as having taken actions that could reasonably be described as treason. It is far from hyperbole in the case of the former Joint Chiefs Chair.
Milley, according to a book titled “Peril,” assured his counterpart, General Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army of China, in the final days of Trump’s first term that the United States military would not strike the communist country. Even if Trump ordered such actions based on his assessment they were in the best interest of the defense of America.
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Perhaps most astonishing was the quote from that book, which shows Milley was willing to warn China — a hostile foreign nation — if an attack was in the works.
“General Li, you and I have known each other for now five years. If we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time,” he purportedly said. “It’s not going to be a surprise.”
It would seem to be the very definition of treason.
Kash Patel: Senior Military Officials Intentionally Delayed National Guard Deployment on January 6th
Milley’s defiance of his Commander-in-Chief at the time, Donald Trump, was extensive. He has also been accused of having an integral role in subverting orders during the Capitol protest in 2021.
Trump’s nominee for FBI Director, Kash Patel, in an exclusive interview with RedState, suggested Milley contravened authorization from then-President Trump regarding the deployment of the National Guard on January 6th.
Milley had claimed the National Guard was deployed to the Capitol at “sprint speed.”
However, congressional testimony from Brig. Gen. Aaron R. Dean II, then the Guard’s adjutant general, suggested the deployment was stalled for the sake of optics, as evidenced by several calls to Ryan D. McCarthy, the Secretary of the Army at the time, to commence deployment going “directly to voice mail.”
“The military had adopted a particularly cautious approach to deploying the Guard, with several top commanders openly worried about the ‘optics’ of such a mobilization in part because of concerns that President Donald J. Trump could misuse the Guard, and they approached the situation as akin to sending troops into an overseas war zone,” the New York Times reported.
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“The critical issue here is that the Secretary of the Army and General Milley bypassed a direct, lawful command from President Trump, opting instead to delay the deployment of the National Guard on Jan. 6 for the sake of political optics, and in doing so violate the chain of command,” Patel told RedState in May.
Gen. Milley’s official portrait was just unveiled today in the Pentagon. (the details requested in these are always interesting — note the “Ukraine” folder on the left on top of the map of Russia). pic.twitter.com/f7ovawibnS
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) January 10, 2025
Milley had also famously admitted he was concerned about “white rage” in Trump supporters at the Capitol. He should have used some of that concern in Afghanistan.
You may recall the Afghanistan withdrawal led to a suicide bombing killing 13 service members, and a retaliatory drone strike by the United States that killed 10 civilians – including an aid worker and seven children.
Milley, additionally, is the same tough guy who vowed to fight Trump from “within” and dared anybody who opposed him to put him “in prison.”
Milley opted against resigning but to stay and resist efforts to politicize the military.
“Fuck that shit,” he told his staff. “I’ll just fight him.” He added: “If they want to court-martial me, or put me in prison, have at it. But I will fight from the inside.”
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) August 8, 2022
Following an incident in which a decision was made to remove rioters from Lafayette Square during a protest in June of 2020, the former General, according to excerpts from the book, “The Divider: Trump in The White House,“ vowed to fight rather than resign.
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“F**k that shit,” he allegedly told his staff at the time. “I’ll just fight him.”
“If they want to court-martial me or put me in prison, have at it,” Milley continued. “But I will fight from the inside.”
He did fight Trump. Repeatedly. Thanks to Biden, though, he won’t have to face that court martial. He won’t be heading to prison.
At least his portrait will no longer sully the walls of the Pentagon.
