Karl Rove urges caution on book claims, says Gen. Milley has 'real problem' if he broke chain of command

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Karl Rove cautions against trusting claims about Milley and China

Fox News contributor Karl Rove reacts to the White House’s handling of the controversy surrounding Gen. Mark Milley contacting Chinese officials to undermine the Trump administration.

After Bob Woodward's new book revealed Gen. Mark Milley had phone calls with Chinese officials, Fox News contributor Karl Rove told "America’s Newsroom" on Thursday that he has learned to be skeptical of such claims, but said there is a "real problem" if the general went outside the chain of command.

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KARL ROVE: If true, it could be wrong. I long ago learned to distrust … I respect Bob Woodward and Bob Costa, but, I learned long ago not to believe everything Bob writes in his book is accurate. He had three or four about the Bush years. I knew things that were in there that were expressed as facts that were absolutely not true. 

But there are some troubling questions here. And when the chairman of the Joint Chiefs appears before Congress on September 28, he will have to answer them. He talked to the Chinese in October and January, and Ambassador Haley is right. That’s routine. But also routine is the chain of command. Did he talk with his bosses, Mark Esper in October, acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller in January and say, I want to talk to the Chinese and here’s what I want to say. And whatever he said, was it accurately reflected in what Bob Woodward and Bob Costa have in their book? And he’s going to have to answer those questions. If he talked to the Chinese without going through the chain of command, that is to say having the authorization of the secretary of defense not only to talk to them but to express the message that he supposedly expressed, then we have a real problem.

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