Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley is reportedly soon to rake in millions after leaving the position under a cloud of criticism for dragging the military into politics, trying to usurp power from then-President Donald Trump, and granting partisan interviews to journalists and book authors while still in uniform.
According to a recent report by the Intercept, since retiring from the military in 2023, Milley has become a senior adviser to JPMorgan Chase bank, joined the faculties of Princeton and Georgetown, and “embraced the lucrative paid speaking circuit.” In fact, Milley has joined the same high-powered speakers’ agency as Hillary Clinton, who has notoriously cashed in on her own time in government service.
“From military pay of $204,000 a year, Milley is sure to skyrocket to compensation in the millions,” the Intercept’s Ken Klippenstein writes.
Milley has already started delivering paid speeches for his new speakers’ firm Harry Walker Agency. According to the report, the firm’s website showed that he recently participated in a Q&A at a gathering of 160 CEOs organized by global investment bank Moelis & Company, to provide an “insider’s perspective on world affairs.”
Buh-bye! https://t.co/zbqonTEfe7
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) September 29, 2023
The bank gave Milley rave reviews on the website, writing, “He was terrific — we loved him!” and “It was fantastic!”
Earlier this month, Milley spoke to the American Council on Education’s 2024 Presidents and Chancellors Summit at the Madison Hotel in Washington, D.C. His speech was sponsored by Deloitte, a global consulting and accounting firm.
An event page said his speech was on “the convergence of democracy, higher education, and moral leadership during times of crisis” and “emphasizing the responsibilities of leaders to uphold democratic principles and inspire resilience in challenging times.”
Jonathan Riskand, vice president of public affairs and strategic communications for the American Council on Education, told the Intercept, “The Summit was exclusively for presidents and chancellors, and there is no transcript.”
Clinton’s speaking fees reportedly earned her around $200,000 each, and in one year, she received over $600,000 alone from Goldman Sachs. She and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have reportedly raked in $153 million in speaking fees since leaving the White House.
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Milley is widely considered to be the most controversial chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in recent years.
Trump nominated Milley to become the next chairman, despite pushback from then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who could not stand the Army general. Milley at first kept a relatively low profile, but that changed after the media criticized him for appearing to support Trump’s efforts to regain control and calm after the George Floyd riots during the summer of 2020.
After that, anonymous accounts involving Milley appeared in a spate of books critical of the latter. Milley himself and through a spokesman would never confirm being the source for those accounts, instead claiming he could not confirm those accounts because he had not read the books.
In those accounts, Milley had allegedly told the members of the Joint Chiefs to not take any orders from Trump without him being in the loop — effectively surreptitiously inserting himself into the chain of command unbeknownst to the president. He also allegedly told his Chinese counterpart that the U.S. would not attack China without him giving him a warning in advance.
Milley also caused controversy after making a series of political statements during congressional hearings. During a June 2021 House Armed Services Committee hearing, he endorsed the idea of West Point cadets learning about critical race theory and also gave validity to the concept by saying, “I want to understand white rage. And I’m white.”
Milley also claimed he had no idea that drag shows or drag queen story hours were taking place on military bases, despite articles about the events being included in daily news summaries going to the then-chairman.
Woke Gen. Mark Milley told reporters less than four weeks before the Taliban entered Kabul that the local military was fully capable of defending Afghanistan from the insurgent Islamic terrorist militia. https://t.co/77hkRdo89N
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) August 16, 2021
While Milley during his tenure touted upholding democracy and morals, he left behind a military less trusted than when he first became the chairman, and facing a historic recruitment crisis.
According to polls by the Ronald Reagan Institute, five years ago, 70 percent of Americans said they had a great deal of trust and confidence in the military, but that plummeted to 48 percent in 2022. Respondents said the top reason was “military leadership becoming overly politicized.”
At Milley’s retirement speech, he bashed Trump as a “wannabe dictator.”
Trump responded back on Truth Social:
Mark Milley, who led perhaps the most embarrassing moment in American history with his grossly incompetent implementation of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, costing many lives, leaving behind hundreds of American citizens, and handing over BILLIONS of dollars of the finest military equipment ever made, will be leaving the military next week. This will be a time for all citizens of the USA to celebrate! This guy turned out to be a Woke train wreck who, if the Fake News reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States. This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH! A war between China and the United States could have been the result of this treasonous act. To be continued!!!
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