Thursday on “MSNBC Live,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) sounded off on calls from the GOP for Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to resign.
The push for Milley to resign comes in the wake of a report claiming he called his Chinese counterpart General Li Zuocheng multiple times during the Trump presidency and promised to warn him ahead of any U.S. military action.
MSNBC anchor Hallie Jackson asked Kinzinger if he thinks Milley should resign.
Kinzinger resisted calling for Milley to resign but said he “needs to answer the questions” about his actions.
“No,” Kinzinger replied. “I think he needs to answer the questions. But look, I actually had a conversation probably about an hour ago with a former senior official at the Defense Department that was confirming to me that, in fact, General Mark Esper had opened this line of communications with China, that that was very important to do, and that, you know, just to dispel any concerns that were out there. And I think that’s a good thing to have. If this was part of that effort, that’s actually, I think, not a bad thing.”
He added, “I want to get the answers to those questions. I think we need those answers. But I also think we have to understand it is not inappropriate for the United States of America to reassure a competitor or enemy that we’re got going to attack them. … We definitely need those answers.”
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