Donald Trump attacked the media on Thursday for having the nerve to film this week’s congressional testimony in which his own intelligence chiefs contradicted his claims about foreign affairs.
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In a pair of tweets, the president said, “Just concluded a great meeting with my Intel team in the Oval Office who told me that what they said on Tuesday at the Senate Hearing was mischaracterized by the media.”
Trump added, “I would suggest you read the COMPLETE testimony from Tuesday.”
Just concluded a great meeting with my Intel team in the Oval Office who told me that what they said on Tuesday at the Senate Hearing was mischaracterized by the media – and we are very much in agreement on Iran, ISIS, North Korea, etc. Their testimony was distorted press…. pic.twitter.com/Zl5aqBmpjF
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2019
….I would suggest you read the COMPLETE testimony from Tuesday. A false narrative is so bad for our Country. I value our intelligence community. Happily, we had a very good meeting, and we are all on the same page!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2019
There is a slim to zero chance that Trump and his intelligence team are “on the same page” after their Oval Office photo-op on Thursday.
As I noted on Wednesday, “Not only did the intelligence community conclude that North Korea is not giving up its nuclear stockpiles and Iran isn’t in the process of making a bomb, but they found that Russia and China are a growing cyber threat to the United States.”
These assessments from the intelligence community haven’t changed since yesterday, and it’s unlikely that Trump’s inability to accept and learn new information has changed either.
The media didn’t mischaracterize the intel chiefs. They just rolled the tape.
One of Donald Trump’s favorite defense strategies is to point the finger at the media for whatever mess he created for himself. But his effort to blame the press for what his intel chiefs told Congress is particularly ludicrous.
The media didn’t mischaracterize the testimony; they simply rolled the tape.
As MSNBC producer Kyle Griffin said on Thursday, “The hearing was televised. There’s a transcript. And video.”
Trump claims that his intel chiefs — who openly contradicted him in their national security threats hearing — were “mischaracterized by the media.” The hearing was televised. There’s a transcript. And video.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 31, 2019
The president is desperate to change the subject after his own intelligence community made him look foolish again this week.
He is free to frame this any way he likes, but the truth is on tape.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
