The top U.S. military officer told Congress on Tuesday that he knew former President Donald Trump wasn’t planning to attack China and that it was his job to reassure the Chinese of that fact in phone calls that have triggered outrage from some lawmakers.

Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, delivered a full-throated defense of two calls he made to his Chinese counterpart, saying he was responding to “concerning intelligence” that China was worried about a U.S. attack.

America’s top general on Tuesday vehemently defended his Jan. 8 phone call with Chinese military leaders, telling lawmakers that he was “certain” then-President Donald Trump wouldn’t order an attack on Beijing and wanted to convey that reassuring message to his Chinese counterparts.

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, pushed back on the narrative that he went around Mr. Trump out of fear the president might order an attack on China during his final days in office.

Top military officials told lawmakers on Tuesday that they had recommended 2,500 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan, contradicting comments made by President Biden earlier this year.

Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, and Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, each acknowledged during public congressional testimony that they agreed with the recommendation of Army Gen. Austin Miller that 2,500 troops be left in the country, though they denied to detail what they advised Biden directly.

 The nation's top military leaders will face lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday in a hearing expected to touch on some of the most contentious national security challenges facing the country.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and U.S. Central Command Gen. Kenneth McKenzie will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday and House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.

Faced with calls to resign or an investigation, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley on Friday defended two phone calls he allegedly made in secret to his Chinese Communist Party counterpart.

The general reached out to Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army several days before the November 2020 election and two days after the Capitol breach on Jan. 6 to reassure the Chinese army that an attack isn’t incoming, according to excerpts of a book that was published this week.

Gen. Mark Milley said Friday calls to his Communist Chinese counterpart in the last days of Donald Trump’s presidency were “routine” and fell “perfectly within the duties and responsibilities” of his job as the top U.S. military officer.

In his first public acknowledgement of the exchanges, Milley observed such telephone calls were done “to reassure both allies and adversaries in this case in order to ensure strategic stability.”

Iagree with our editorial that General Mark Milley should be aggressively investigated and, if the Washington Post reporting is verified, removed from office. In fact, I think he ought to be pressed, as a preliminary matter, about whether the reporting is substantially accurate; if he concedes that it is, he should be suspended immediately pending an investigation.

Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has become a lightning rod for the Biden administration, which is facing calls for him to resign over book excerpts underscoring his maneuvering during former President Trump’s final days in office.

Milley was already a target for conservatives before the revelations in “Peril,” the upcoming book by Watergate reporter Bob Woodward and Robert Costa of The Washington Post.

The defense of the top US military official kicked into gear across Washington Wednesday in response to claims that Gen. Mark Milley overstepped his authority during the waning days of the Trump administration.

The Joint Chiefs chairman came under attack Tuesday over new reporting in "Peril," a forthcoming book by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, which details Milley's phone conversations to reassure a nervous Chinese general and efforts Milley took to limit then-President Donald Trump from potentially ordering a dangerous military strike.

Top US General Mark Milley has defended himself after a book reported he had "secret" phone calls with China amid concerns about then-President Donald Trump.

The calls last October and January were to reassure the Chinese military, Gen Milley said on Wednesday.

Mr Trump said the claims were fabricated and Republicans have called for the general to be fired.

President Joe Biden said he has "great confidence" in Gen Milley.