The New York Times nailed it with their “Liar or a fool” article about working for President Trump.
Hours after Trump’s Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, NSA H.R. McMaster, and Deputy NSA for Strategy put out statements claiming Trump didn’t leak classified secrets about ISIS to the Russians as the Washington Post detailed, Trump admitted to it and bragged about it.
“As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety,” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. “Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism.”
As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining….
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— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2017
…to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2017
For good measure, he added a whine about Comey and how they need to be looking for the leakers. Presumably, he doesn’t mean himself, but ironically, Donald Trump is the person who leaked the most sensitive classified information — and not the U.S. press, but directly to an adversary — Russia.
I have been asking Director Comey & others, from the beginning of my administration, to find the LEAKERS in the intelligence community…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2017
McMaster’s statement to the press Monday night was a carefully worded denial, in which he denied things that the article never said Trump did.
But the gist of it was that Trump didn’t do this, the article was “false”, “There’s nothing that the president takes more seriously than the security of the American people. At no time were intelligence sources or methods discussed, and the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known.â€
McMaster called the story “false†and said he knows that because he was in the room.
But then the New York Times corroborated the story, as did Reuters and CNN.
And now this morning, the President himself is admitting that yes, he told the Russians things. His excuse is the one used by cowardly Republicans last night, and also the mantra Nixon used to excuse his behavior. That is, the president can do what he wants, it’s legal when he does it.
Senator John McCain floated this decidedly unmavericky comment last night, “We certainly don’t want any president to leak classified information but the president does have the right to do that.”
Now Trump is announcing to us all that he has the right to do this so there. And he had reasons. So there.
In doing so, Trump compromised our relationship with an ally, undermined the fight against ISIS, and put brave men and women’s lives at risk.
Conclusion? Even if he has the right to do something, that doesn’t mean he should do it. It doesn’t mean it’s in the best interest of the U.S.A. And these are concepts that should not have to be explained to the person in charge of the free world.
Donald Trump promised to defeat ISIS during the campaign, but wouldn’t tell us how. Now you know why he wouldn’t tell us.
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Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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