OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump’s last secretary of defense has taken several “geriatric” congressional leaders to task in a new book due out on Tuesday, taking particular aim at Nancy Pelosi.
Christopher Miller, writing in “Soldier Secretary: Warnings from the Battlefield & the Pentagon about America’s Most Dangerous Enemies,” called out the California Democrat and former House speaker over her behavior during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol Building, according to an excerpt of his new book cited by the UK’s Daily Mail.
In addition to Pelosi, Miller blasted the two Senate leaders, Democrat Chuck Schumer and Republican Mitch McConnell, for panicking as well as “ruthlessly and selfishly” maintaining “their hold on power” while refusing to develop a new generation of leaders.
Miller wrote in his memoir that many lawmakers were “hyperventilating into the phone” that day while demanding to know if military forces were on the way to protect them.
“At this point in time, I had been President Donald Trump’s Acting Secretary of Defense for approximately two months,” he wrote. “I had known when I took the job that it was going to be wild. But I never could have imagined anything like this—getting reamed out by a histrionic Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell as they implored me to send troops to forcibly expel a rowdy band of MAGA supporters, infiltrated by a handful of provocateurs, who were traipsing through the halls of the Capitol, taking selfies, and generally making a mockery of the entire institution.”
He then referenced his 30-plus years in the U.S. Army: “I had never seen anyone—not even the greenest, pimple-faced 19-year-old Army private—panic like our nation’s elder statesmen did on January 6 and in the months that followed.”
“Do I blame a bunch of geriatrics for acting like a bunch of geriatrics? Of course not. But do I judge them for it? You’re damned right I do. Most of all, I resent that we are ruled by a bunch of geriatrics that ruthlessly and selfishly maintain their hold on power and refuse to develop the next generation of leaders,” he added.
“As soon as it was her a** on the line, Pelosi had been miraculously born again as a passionate, if less than altruistic, champion of law and order,” he wrote.
Miller also writes that then-first lady Melania Trump played a critical role during the operation to target and kill ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, sitting in one of the most important chairs in the Situation Room and offering some advice to her husband at the time.
Miller says that the first lady’s presence in the room was “unexpected,” and she came in as her husband’s executive team was “waiting for the final assault” on the ISIS leader.
“Secretary of Defense Mark Esper quickly gave up his seat and she sat down next to the President, who introduced her to us as if we didn’t know who she was. Her presence was unexpected, to say the least. I wondered how it would play in the press if word got out that the First Lady had popped in to watch a major military operation. Not my problem, I figured. And after all, it was her house,” Miller wrote, according to an excerpt obtained by the Daily Caller, which added:
After a discussion about what may happen, Evans told the group that the U.S. “assault force had unleashed their combat dog” into the building with al-Baghdadi, “with our commandos close behind,” Miller wrote. Al-Baghdadi was cornered and detonated a suicide vest, killing himself, his two children, and two of his wives.
Miller went on to describe the operation and the scene.
“The assault force commander wouldn’t declare ‘Jackpot’—the code word announcing that Baghdadi was dead—until the body was inspected. They would also take some tissue to check for a DNA match once they got back to friendly territory. [Then-deputy national security advisor Matt] Pottinger and I knew that some poor kid was searching through the dust-and smoke-shrouded rubble with his helmet-mounted lamp and handheld flashlight, trying to find Baghdadi’s head,” he wrote.
The career Army officer also noted that after the successful operation, President Trump asked the team how he should address the nation. Melania Trump, to Miller’s surprise, “took over.”
“You should talk about the dog,” she said, Miller wrote. “Everyone loves dogs.”
Donald Trump agreed and thought that was great advice.
He brought Conan the dog to the White House and gave him an award, saying he did “such a great job in capturing and killing the leader of ISIS.”
