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. Trump, they noted, is still the commander in chief unless he is removed, the military is bound to follow his lawful orders. The newspaper spoke to other Pentagon officials who were reportedly hesitant to get involved in Pelosi’s political match, according to Times reporters David Sanger and Eric Schmitt. “ answered her questions regarding the process of nuclear command authority,” Butler said. Dave Butler, a spokesman for Milley, confirmed to The Times that the call took place. “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,” Pelosi wrote.īut according to The New York Times, the Pentagon is remaining neutral in the partisan squabbling.Ī statement from Col. NPR reported Pelosi told her Democratic colleagues she spoke to Milley about “available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike.” The California Democrat reportedly told Milley she wants to limit the president from responding to international threats during the final days of his term. No specific threat from Trump seems to exist, suggesting the call was made for political purposes. It’s unclear what initiated the call to Milley. Pelosi called Milley to ask him to ignore orders from Trump to use those codes.

Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to limit the president’s access to the country’s so-called nuclear football, which contains launch codes for America’s vast arsenal of nuclear weapons. It was widely reported Friday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked Army Gen. Mark A. Despite a campaign by Democrats and the establishment media to delegitimize President Donald Trump after Wednesday’s Capitol incursion, Department of Defense officials intend to avoid outside pressure and continue to recognize him as the commander in chief while avoiding taking part in “a military coup,” according to a report.

Donald trump commander in chief