'Why Haven't You Resigned?': Tom Cotton Slams Mark Milley To His Face Over Afghanistan

thank you general miller it's your testimony that you recommended 2500 troops uh approximately stay in afghanistan um as i've said many times before this committee and other committees i don't share my personal recommendations to the president but i can tell you my personal opinion and my assessment if that's what you want yes please um yes my assessment was uh back in the fall of 20 and remain consistent throughout that we should keep a steady state of 2500 and it could bounce up to 3 500 maybe something like that in order to move toward a negotiated gated solution did you present did you ever present that assessment personally to president biden i don't discuss exactly what uh my conversations are with the sitting president the oval office but i can tell you what my personal opinion was and i'm always candid general mackenzie do you share that assessment senator i do share that assessment um did you ever present that opinion personally to president biden again i'm not going to be able to comment on those executive discussions did general miller ever present that opinion personally to president biden i think we best ask him i believe that his opinion was well heard uh secretary austin uh president biden last month in an interview with george stephanopoulos said that no military leader advised him to leave a small troop presence in afghanistan is that true senator cotton i i believe that well first of all i know the president to be an honest and forthright man uh and secondly it's a simple question secretary austin he said no senior military leader advised him to leave a small troop presence behind is that true or not did these officer and general miller's recommendations get to the president personally their input was uh was received by the president and considered by the president uh for sure in terms of what they specifically recommended senator they just as they just said uh they're not going to provide what they recommended in confidence i mean it sounds to me this is shocking to me it's not to me like maybe their best military advice was never presented personally to the president of the united states about such a highly consequential matter let me move on to another recommendation they are reported to have made general milley joe biden has said that it was the unanimous the unanimous recommendation of the joint chiefs that we not maintain a military presence beyond august 31st we've heard testimony of that effect today as well when was that unanimous recommendation sought and presented to the president you're talking about the 31 august yes the 31 august deadline on 25 august i was asked to make an assessment and provide best military advice i'm sorry my time is limited here you just you gave me the answer that i needed here august 25th that's correct cobble fell on august 15th that's correct you were not asked before august 2016. on august 25th i was asked to provide best military assessment is whether we should keep military forces past the 31st secretary austin was anybody asked before august 25th if we should keep troops at the kabul airport this is uh the president tasked us to tonight to provide an assessment on whether or not we should extend our our presence uh beyond august 31st and as general milley just said that assessment was uh was made we tasked him to make that assessment on the 25th and uh he came back and provided his best military advice secretary kabul fell on august 15th it was clear that we had thousands of america it's clear members of this committee were getting phone calls that we had thousands of americans in afghanistan behind taliban lines on august 15th and it took 10 days to ask these general officers if we should extend our presence i suspect the answer might be a little different if you're asking them 16 days out not five days out my time is limit i want to move on to another matter president biden's botched evacuation screwed things up coming and going as it relates to afghan evacuees we left behind thousands of afghans who served us alongside the side of us who were vetted and approved to come here we brought out thousands who really have no particular connection about whom we know nothing and cannot be effectively vetted you now have female troops who have been assaulted you have afghan evacuees committing sex crimes at fort mccoy what what are we to make of this what steps are we taking to ensure that thousands of afghans about who we know nothing are not going to be a menace to our troops at our military bases and to the communities into which they're about to be released well senator i'm certainly aware of the allegations and i take the out the allegations very seriously and i can assure you that uh our commanders uh at our bases have what they need to be able to uh protect our troops and our families that uh that work and live at those bases and i uh i'm in contact with general van hurk the northcom commander who has overall uh who has overall uh responsibility for that for the operation uh on a routine basis and uh and this is an area that he remains cited on all right i've just got one final question general milley i can only conclude that your advice about staying in afghanistan was rejected i'm shocked to learn that your advice wasn't sought until august 25th on staying past the august 31 deadline i understand that you're the principal military advisor that you advise you don't decide the president decides but if all this is true general milly why haven't you resigned [Music] senator as a senior military officer resigning is a really serious thing it's a political act if i'm resigning in protest my job is to provide advice my statutory responsibilities provide legal advice or best military advice to the president and that's my legal requirement that's what the law is the president doesn't have to agree with that advice he doesn't have to make those decisions just because we're generals and it would be an incredible act of political defiance for a commissioned officer to just resign because my advice is not taken this country doesn't want generals figuring out what orders we're going to accept and do or not that's not our job the principle of civilian control of the military is absolute it's critical to this republic in addition to that just from a personal standpoint you know my my dad didn't get a choice to resign at iwo jima and those kids that are at abby gate they don't get a choice to resign and i'm not going to turn my back on them uh i'm not going to resi they can't resign so i'm not going to resign there's no way if the orders are illegal we're in a different place but if the orders are legal from civilian authority i intend to carry them out thank you senator cotton senator hirono

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Keywords: Sen. Tom Cotton, Gen. Mark Milley, Afghanistan

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Length: 7min 14sec (434 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 28 2021