While holding a glass of wine, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley confessed that he had no idea about the policy that President Donald Trump instituted about transgender soldiers in the military.
In a tweet, Washington Free Beacon reporter Natalie Johnson revealed that Milley is yet another in a growing list of generals and military leaders who didn't know the policy was changing.
In a Wednesday morning Twitterstorm, Trump claimed he was making the decision "after consultation with my Generals and military experts." The media has failed to find any generals that advised Trump to kick trans soldiers out of the military, however.
"The military is the military who operates off of a set of processes and sets of orders," Milley told a group at the National Press Club. "To date, walking in here, I have yet to receive implementation guidance, implementation directives from the Department of Defense, Gen. [James] Mattis. We grow up and learn to obey the chain of command and my chain of command is the secretary of the army and the Secretary of Defense. Alright? And the president."
Gen. Mattis is on vacation this week, and the Pentagon seemed to indicate that it was not informed about the new policy ahead of time. As such they've directed all questions back to The White House, since it was the president who made the policy.
"Secretary Mattis hasn't received written directives yet," Milley continued.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a statement that they don't intend to enact the policy immediately and don't anticipate a change in policy to take place.
View the full speech here:
