Judicial Watch has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Pentagon for all information regarding two conference calls held by then-Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley on January 6, 2021. The calls looped in the U.S. Department of Justice, Interior and Homeland Security for coordination during the Capitol protests.
Milley — who has referred to President Trump as a “fascist” and has openly admitted to coordinating with the Chinese Government in order to thwart the Trump Administration — has long defended his secret January 6 phone calls. The now retired general called his counterpart on Beijing on two occasions, once in October 2020 and another instance days after the January 6 Capitol protests, in order to assure him that he would not follow through with an order to attack China if Trump demanded it.
In addition to side-stepping the president and openly coordinating with an adversarial foreign power, Trump never once expressed any interest in attacking China.
Milley explained in his book, “Peril,” that he felt compelled to call Chinese General Li Zuocheng after becoming “certain that Trump had gone into a serious mental decline in the aftermath of the election.” Without evidence, Milley was worried that Trump would go “rogue,” he explained in the book.
The former Joint Chiefs chairman went on to endorse a number of hyperbolic accounts of the January 6 Capitol protests, a largely peaceful gathering until Capitol Police fired tear gas into the crowd. In an infamous hearing, Milley stated that he wanted to understand “white rage” and suggested that the mostly peaceful crowd wanted to kill lawmakers.
Judicial Watch is now suing the Pentagon for all records relating to Milley’s secret phone calls after the Department of Defense failed to respond to a December 19 FOIA request.
The legal group had requested all records “and communications about two conference calls hosted by former Department of Defense employees Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, then Secretary of Army Ryan McCarthy, and then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley on January 3rd and January 4th, 2021, with the Department of Justice, Department of Interior, and Department of Homeland Security.”
The calls, which were separate from the secret China calls, were aimed at “coordination for and the common operating picture for the January 6, 2021, Electoral Certification taking place at the United States Capitol building in Washington, DC.”
While testifying before the House January 6 Select Committee, Milley admitted that the calls took place and were geared towards ensuring security ahead of the electoral certification. Whistleblowers have revealed that President Trump wanted to activate the National Guard to respond on January 6, though he was denied by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
“General Mark Milley and many Deep Staters at the Pentagon hated President Trump, so their role in January 6 is well worth exploring,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said after filing the latest lawsuit. “Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth should order full transparency and disclosure.”
In December 2024, Judicial Watch sued the Department of Justice for all records pertaining to a meeting between then-Attorney General Merrick Garland and Milley during the early days of the Biden presidency. The two reportedly discussed Trump and ways they can counter “far-right militias” and “anti-government extremists” in the United States.