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Top general apologizes for appearing in photo-op with Trump after forceful removal of protesters
By
Ryan Browne,
Barbara Starr and
Zachary Cohen, CNN
Updated 1:24 PM ET, Thu June 11, 2020
Washington (CNN)America's top general has apologized for appearing in a photo-op with President Donald Trump following the forceful
dispersal of peaceful protesters outside the White House last week,
calling the move a "mistake" and saying his presence "created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics."
Gen.
Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. said during a pre-recorded speech released on Thursday that he regrets accompanying Trump on a walk from the White House to St. John's Church last week where he was photographed wearing his combat uniform and moving with the President's entourage through Lafayette Square.
The images provoked a swift wave of criticism from lawmakers and several senior former military officials who said they risked dragging the traditionally apolitical military into a contentious domestic political situation.
"As senior leaders, everything you do will be closely watched. And I am not immune. As many of you saw, the result of the photograph of me at Lafayette Square last week. That sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society," Milley said in his pre-recorded speech to a group of graduates from the National Defense University.
"I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it," he added.
Milley also said that he was "outraged" by the killing of George Floyd and added that the protests it sparked spoke to "centuries of injustice toward African Americans." Read more