Gen. Mark Milley told his Chinese counterpart the US was '100 percent steady' after the Capitol riot but privately thought the siege was 'treason': book

• Gen. Mark Milley told his Chinese counterpart the US was "100 percent steady" after the Capitol siege.
• But he privately believed the riot amounted to "treason," a new book says.
• He also thought Trump was still looking for his "Reichstag moment," according to the book.

Two days after the deadly Capitol siege, Gen. Mark Milley spoke to his Chinese counterpart to assure him that the US was still in good shape.

But privately, he believed differently, according to "Peril" by The Washington Post's Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, an early copy of which was obtained by Insider.

In his call with Chinese Gen. Li Zuocheng, Milley said the US was "100 percent steady" and that the January 6 insurrection was an example of how "sloppy" democracy can be, the book says. But in reality, Milley thought the riot was "a coup attempt and nothing less than 'treason,'" and that then President Donald Trump "might still be looking for what Milley called a 'Reichstag moment'" in the wake of his election loss. That refers to the 1933 fire at the German parliament that Adolf Hitler used as a pretext to consolidate power into a dictatorship.

It's one of several instances Woodward and Costa reported in which Milley grappled with how to ward off a national security crisis while remaining within the confines of his advisory role as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

According to the book, Milley made two calls to Li, one on October 30 and the second on January 8. The January call came amid a heightened sense of urgency because the Capitol siege "had not only stirred up China but also caused Russia, Iran, as well as other nations to go on high alert to monitor the American military and political events in the United States," the book said.

"Half the world was friggin nervous," Milley said, according to the book. The general was said to be on high alert and told the Joint Chiefs to keep an eye on things "all the time." He also told NSA Director Gen. Paul Nakasone to keep his "needles up" following the phone call with Li, and he told CIA Director Gina Haspel to "aggressively watch everything, 360," according to the book.

Milley's main concern with China was that it "could choose to do what's called a 'first-move advantage' or a 'Pearl Harbor,' and conduct a strike," the book said. His first call to Li, on October 30, was prompted by US intelligence suggesting that China believed the US was readying for a military strike amid increased military exercises in the South China Sea and Trump's harsh rhetoric toward the country.

During the October call, Milley assured Li that "the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay. We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you," the book said. He also reportedly added: "General Li, you and I have known each other for now five years. If we're going to attack, I'm going to call you ahead of time. It's not going to be a surprise."

But the January 6 Capitol siege only intensified China's fears that the US was unstable and that Trump, seething over his election loss and behaving erratically, could authorize a military strike.

Milley's reported conversations with Li drew sharp condemnation from Trump, some of his advisors, Republican lawmakers, and some ex-military members.

"If this is true GEN Milley must resign. He usurped civilian authority, broke Chain of Command, and violated the sacrosanct principle of civilian control over the military," tweeted retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a former Trump impeachment witness. "It's an extremely dangerous precedent. You can't simply walk away from that. #dotherightthingintherightway."

However, Fox News' Jennifer Griffin reported that there were 15 people on Milley's video teleconference calls with his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng, including a State Department representative. Griffin added that notes detailing the two calls were shared with the intelligence community and went through the interagency process.

Nayyera Haq, a former senior advisor at the State Department and senior director of Cabinet affairs at the White House, also added: "The only thing secret about the discussion was the classification. It's literally how government and diplomacy are supposed to work."