America's top general says he was wrong to join Trump for photo op
Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, apologized on Thursday for joining President Trump in a controversial walk to St. John’s Church in Washington, D.C., immediately after protesters were teargassed. Milley, the top military official in the country, delivered the message as part of a prerecorded video commencement address to National Defense University. “I should not have been there,” Milley said. “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,” added Milley, who became chairman of the Joint Chiefs in October 2019. On June 1, after a weekend of protests following the death of George Floyd, Trump gave a brief address at the White House that coincided with live images of law enforcement attacking peaceful protesters outside the executive mansion fence. After he finished speaking, Trump made a short walk across L