Top general: Military to play no role in election
WASHINGTON — The U. S. armed forces will have no role in carrying out the election process or resolving a disputed vote, the top U.S. military officer has told Congress.
The comments from Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, underscore the extraordinary political environment in America, where the president has declared without evidence that the expected surge in mail-in ballots will make the vote “inaccurate and fraudulent,” and has suggested he might not accept the election results if he loses. Milley’s comments were released Friday.
Trump’s repeated complaints questioning the election’s validity have triggered unprecedented worries about the potential for chaos surrounding the election results. Some have speculated that the military might be called upon to get involved, either by Trump trying to use it to help his reelection prospects or as, Democratic challenger Joe Biden has suggested, to remove Trump from the White House if he refuses to accept defeat. The military has adamantly sought to tamp down that speculation and is zealously protective of its historically nonpartisan nature.
“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. “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.”
Milley’s tone reflects the longstanding views of military leaders who insist that thenation’s military stays out of politics and that troops are sworn to protect the country and uphold the Constitution.
But the two Congress members, Reps. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, said Friday that Trump’s recent comments and his efforts to use the military to quell protests have fueled their concerns. The two lawmakers released Milley’s answers.
“These are just prudent questions to be asking given the things that the president has been saying publicly,” said Slotkin, pointing to Trump’s use of the military to clear protesters from Lafayette Square and his suggestions that he may put law enforcement at the polls to make sure voting is conducted professionally. 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.”
Faced with polls showing he is trailing Biden, Trump last month said it was too early to guarantee he’d accept the election results.
“I have to see. Look ... I have to see,” Trump said on “Fox News Sunday.” “No, I’m not going to just say yes. I’m not going to say no.” The Biden campaign at the time responded that “the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.”
Trump later suggested that the election should be postponed, since the coronavirus pandemic has made it likely it could take days or weeks to count mail-in ballots. But that idea was immediately slapped down, including by top congressional Republicans, since the election date can only be changed by Congress.
Milley, known to be a student of military and constitutional history, anchored many of his responses in the nation’s founding document. Asked if the military would refuse an order fromthe president if hewas attempting to use military action for political gain, Milley said, “I will not follow an unlawful order.”
Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot, said, “this is personal for me.”