Last night, the Washington Post broke a story that Donald Trump had revealed highly classified information to Russian officials while boasting about U.S. intelligence quality when he met with them last week at the White House. His team immediately launched into damage control mode, members of Congress became varying levels of “disturbed,” and the Internet reveled in just how many times there have been past Trump and GOP statements condemning something Trump would go on to do.
On Trump’s own team, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster went on TV to shoot down the Washington Post story, which both Buzzfeed and the New York Times say they’ve verified with their own sources. McMaster’s debunking, though, only debunked things that weren’t in WaPo’s original story. He said, “At no time were intelligence sources or methods discussed,” in an attempt to quell concerns that the info Trump shared could compromise intelligence sources. However, the concern is that, based on the actual information, the sources and methods could become compromised despite not having been discussed themselves.
Basically, this is like if the Washington Post had reported, “Your house is on fire,” and McMaster’s denial had been, “Your house did not explode.” One does not debunk the other, nor does it mean one can’t cause the other. There’s already genuine fear that this event could hurt U.S. safety as allies may become wary of sharing information with us, with foreign officials saying as much, especially considering WaPo’s report that the intelligence in question came from just such an ally.
McMaster also said, “I was in the room; it didn’t happen,” but that still leaves interpretation open as to whether he means the things he already mentioned that no one actually thought happened did not happen, or if Trump did not actually reveal highly classified information—he never specifically said Trump didn’t do that. A frequent line of defense has also been that the president has the right to declassify information, which is now Trump’s defense this morning, rather than “it didn’t happen,” seemingly confirming the story.
President Trump: It Did Happen pic.twitter.com/bZDOGjfkJK
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) May 16, 2017
The Washington post story also mentioned this right of the president, but being technically legal wouldn’t make it any less … extremely careless—the phrase then-FBI Director James Comey once used to describe Hillary Clinton’s email actions. Take it away, GOP:
Individuals who are “extremely careless” with classified information should be denied further access to such info. pic.twitter.com/0C76Ae95LD
— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) July 7, 2016
Danger? You mean like installing a secret server with classified information susceptible ti hacking by foriegn govs? https://t.co/tAhiGYSmYN
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) July 13, 2016
On Sec. Clinton’s mishandling of classified information → if this conduct does not warrant prosecution, what does?https://t.co/QNFFnjq0ZU
— Trey Gowdy (@TGowdySC) October 3, 2016
Those who mishandled classified info have had their sec clearances revoked, lost their jobs, faced fines, & even been sent to prison
— Reince Priebus (@Reince) July 7, 2016
The FBI’s decision regarding Clinton’s mishandling of classified emails once again proves that she is DQ’d from being Commander in Chief.
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 5, 2016
What do I say to the marines in my district when Hillary Clinton handles classified information in a careless way yet has no ramifications?
— Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) July 12, 2016
And of course, because his Twitter feed seemingly came from the future to warn everyone about him in futility:
Crooked Hillary Clinton and her team “were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.” Not fit!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2016
The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by “intelligence” like candy. Very un-American!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017
But Trump isn’t the only one who’s prescient:
I tweeted this in July 2015, btw https://t.co/9bS9SKyocP
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) May 15, 2017
Headline from 2017: “President Trump Blurts Out Nuclear Codes, Just To Prove He Knows Them”
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) July 21, 2015
Here’s how it will go:
Trump didn’t say secrets!
Trump didn’t say REALLY bad secrets!
Trump MEANT to say secrets! It’s strategy!
— Max Eddy, Max Sweaty (@wmaxeddy) May 16, 2017
The Democrats are enjoying turning Trump’s own words back on him, too:
Multiple Dem lawmakers teeing off Trump's prior tweets about finding leakers: pic.twitter.com/8sGozt8kkL
— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) May 16, 2017
The Trump trolling, albeit over separate matters, even extended into the real world last night, thanks to artist Robin Bell:
The Emoluments Clause of the Constitution and “Pay Bribes Here” currently projected onto Trump Hotel DC, just blocks from the White House. pic.twitter.com/sdkmOCg6o7
— Anna Massoglia (@annalecta) May 16, 2017
While we wait to see how this whole situation shakes out, let’s really stretch our imaginations to guess how the GOP will continue to react to each more-outlandish-than-the-last thing Trump does:
McCain: I have serious concerns.
McConnell: I wish there were less drama.
Ryan: I’m not going to comment on every nuclear explosion. https://t.co/LOe1gXGWkl
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) May 16, 2017
(image: Shutterstock/a katz)
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