Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley has poured more cold water on the idea that the military might get involved in any post-election dispute in the U.S. “I believe deeply in the principle of an apolitical U.S. military,” Milley said in written responses to several questions posed by two Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee, reported Associated Press. “In the event of a dispute over some aspect of the elections, by law U.S. courts and the U.S. Congress are required to resolve any disputes, not the U.S. military. I foresee no role for the U.S armed forces in this process.”
The questions were posed to Milley by Democrat Reps. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, in order to keep destabilizing talk of a coup d'état in the air during the run-up to the election. They did this by pretending to express concern about recent statements by Trump in which he said it was too early to guarantee he’d accept the election results. “These are just prudent questions to be asking given the things that the President has been saying publicly,” said Slotkin. Milley’s answers, she said, “demonstrated that the chairman recognized the military’s role in our elections is to essentially stay out; that the military’s role in the peaceful transition of power is to stay out.” They also sent a letter asking the same questions to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.
