Pelosi asks top military general to protect nuclear codes during Trump’s final days
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has asked the Pentagon’s highest military leadership what processes were in place to ensure command over the country’s nuclear weapons during President Donald Trump’s final days in office, reflecting lawmakers’ concerns that his unpredictable behavior during a violent riot at the Capitol this week makes him too dangerous to handle the nuclear codes.
Col. Dave Butler, a spokesman for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, confirmed that Pelosi had called and said that Milley “answered her questions regarding the process of nuclear command authority.”
In a “Dear Colleague” letter sent Friday morning, Pelosi told lawmakers, she had spoken to Milley “to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike.” She did not offer any details about whether there were specific developments behind her concerns.
Having a top lawmaker call about the security of the codes from the president was rare, said one defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Pelosi, a California Democrat, has been talking about impeaching Trump for a second time and has called on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment.
Butler, in a statement to Pentagon reporters, did not provide any additional details of the call, that Pelosi characterized as necessary because “the situation of this unhinged President could not be more dangerous.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since the deadly riots at the U.S. Capitol left one police officer and four protesters dead following Trump’s call at a rally for his supporters to march on the building, some lawmakers and former members of Trump’s Cabinet have openly called for his removal from office, citing fears of actions he may take in his final 12 days in office.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. Said in a statement Thursday he supported the removal of Trump to ensure that he is unable to take any additional actions that may put the nation’s security at risk.
“All indications are that the president has become unmoored, not just from his duty, nor even his oath, but from reality itself,” Kinzinger said in a video statement he posted to Twitter Thursday. “It’s for this reason that I call for the vice president and members of the Cabinet to ensure the next few weeks are safe for the American people.”
In 2017, the former military head of U.S. Strategic Command, retired Air Force Gen. Robert Kehler, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that an order from the president to launch one of the nation’s nuclear missiles - housed in underground silos at Minot Air Force Base in Nebraska and other locations - could be refused by Strategic Command.
“Military members are bound by the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to follow orders provided they are legal and come from appropriate command authority,” Kehler said in his prepared remarks before the committee. “They are equally bound to question (and ultimately refuse) illegal orders or those that do not come from appropriate authority.”
Military leaders have been steadfastly opposed to the armed forces having a role in the transition of power.
Since the U.S. Capitol attack, the National Guard is ramping up its efforts to protect the city through President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy has ordered an additional 6,200 National Guard members to the city and erected a 7-foot non-scalable fence around the Capitol’s perimeter.
