General Milley responded on CBS News. “My family and I have sacrificed a lot for this country, my mother and father before them.

“As much as these comments are directed against me, they are also directed against the military institution and there are 2.1 million of us.

“The American people can assert that each of us, from the individual to the general, is faithful to the Constitution, regardless of threats. »

John Kelly, a retired four-star general who served as Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, described his former boss as: “A person who has no idea what America stands for and who doesn’t has no idea what America is.

“A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who served his country for 40 years in peace and war should lose his life for treason – in the hope that someone will take action. »

Calls for a Pentagon purge

Earlier this week, Reuters reported that the transition team was drawing up a list of military officials to fire – particularly allies of General Milley, who described Mr. Trump as a fascist.

Pete Hegseth, who is Mr. Trump appointed his Secretary of Defense, also called for a purge of the Pentagon.

“The next president of the United States must radically overhaul the senior leadership of the Pentagon so that we are prepared to defend our nation and defeat our enemies. A lot of people need to be fired,” he writes in his 2024 book, The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.

A purge is not unprecedented, Christopher Preble, senior fellow and director of the Reimagining US Grand Strategy program at the Stimson Center, told the Telegraph.

“There are legitimate fears that this will be politicized by Trump and his cronies. But the president has the power to fire or reassign serving military officers.

The Telegraph has contacted Mr Trump’s team for comment.