Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that it was a “mistake” for him to participate in the photo-op President Donald Trump staged outside a church near the White House amid anti-racism protests.
“I should not have been there,” Milley said in remarks to a National Defense University commencement ceremony. “My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.”
After federal police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a crowd of peaceful protesters on June 1, Milley walked with President Donald Trump and other high-ranking U.S. officials across Lafayette Square to St. John’s Episcopal Church.
Trump held a Bible upside-down as he posed for photos in front of the church. Milley, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Attorney General William Barr, national security adviser Robert O’Brien, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany can also been seen in some photos.
