Trump’s bizarre reason for passing over a top candidate for the Joint Chiefs of Staff revealed in new report

Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is one of a handful of senior officials to transition from Donald Trump's presidency to Joe Biden's.

"He is one of the people who bear the scars of the Trump years," John Gans, a former Obama administration official told The Washington Post. "That may not be his fault, but that is the fate of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, which was being chairman under Donald Trump."

The Post's Missy Ryan published a sprawling profile of Milley this Tuesday, spanning from his climb through the military's ranks to his current role in the Biden administration. Within the piece, there's a brief window into Trump's questionable decision-making process as president.

Milley caught Trump's eye in 2018 as a possible replacement for Joseph F. Dunford Jr., who served as Trump's first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wanted Trump to pick Gen. David Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff, but Trump's reason for turning down Goldfein had nothing to do with his skills as a military man. Goldfein was a pilot whose F-16 was shot down over Serbia in 1999. But Trump didn't like F-16s.

"He preferred F-18s," writes Ryan.

"He's a hell of a brave guy. But the president asked what kind of airplane he flew," a former official told the Post. "These were the things that would go into his decision-making. Image was more important than anything."

Read the full piece over at The Washington Post.