Donald Trump just don’t get it. After it was revealed yesterday that he invited Russian officials to the Oval office last week and shared classified confidential information with them, Donald Trump is now defending his decision in a barrage of tweets earlier this morning.
After the Washington Post broke the news, Trump sent out one of his surrogate, his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, to deny the story. McMaster stood outside the White House and informed reporters that “the story as reported” was “false”
“At no time were intelligence sources or methods discussed,” McMaster said, carefully reading from a statement. “And the President did not disclose any military operations that weren’t already publicly known. I was in the room. It didn’t happen.”
Of course the story reported in the Washington Post did not say Trump disclosed military operations or discussed “intelligence sources or methods.” The story stated that Trump shared highly classified information on U.S intelligence about ISIS. Intelligence that was shared with the U.S on the condition it should not be disclosed without the authorization to do so.
Hours after Trump violated this trust, he threw McMaster under the bus and admitted that the report in the Washington Post was in fact, correct. In a tweet storm, Trump gave this reason for giving Russia the classified information.
“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, Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism,” he tweeted.
On CNN, former CIA officer Bob Baer, said by revealing this to the Russians, America “has lost control of this information. It’s going to go to the Syrians, It’s going to go to the Iranians — Russian allies.”
Baer continued. “The ability to protect that source whoever he is, wherever he is has been seriously undermined … If a CIA officer had revealed this information to the Russians, he would be fired instantly.”
Even former CIA Director, Leon Panetta was in awe and wondered if Donald Trump realizes that the safety of the United States is in his hands. Panetta was visibly perplexed in a CNN interview. “He is the president,” Panetta lamented, “not just a reality TV star.”
“He is President of the United States. He is not a reality TV star. He is not just another personality. He is President of the United States.”
