plan. i'd never tip off any enemy to any kind of surprise thing that we were going to do. that's a different context than that conversation. >> reporter: general mark milley insisting that administration officials knew about the calls before and after. milley says the purpose of the calls was stability between two nuclear powers. >> these are two great powers and i am doing my best to transmit the president's intent. president trump's intent to ensure the american people pror tected from an incident that could escalate. >> i understand your intent. >> reporter: republicans have prois seized on the calls as bypassing the commander in chief and the chain of command. >> i think it's worthy of your resignation. >> reporter: calling for the ouster of the joint chiefs over the calls. >> off talking to phil rutger. >> those comments were in the press because that's where you put them. you didn't tell the intelligence committee or armed services comm committee. >> with respect to the intelligence, i have it right here. i'll be happy to share it with