At 6:10 PM this evening President Trump began a meeting with top military leaders and gave a short prepared statement to pool reporters at the White House. It was quite an aggressive statement but not terribly different from other things we’ve heard from the President. The White House then announced that press appearances were done for the day. Then roughly an hour later, a pool reporter was again called in for another by the President and the military leaders. As the pool reporter put it, “White House staff hastily assembled the pool to cover a photo spray with military leaders and their spouses before a dinner with POTUS and FLOTUS.”
Here’s the key passage, with ominous and cryptic statements from the President.
POTUS and FLOTUS stood side-by-side in the middle of more than a dozen couples who were lined up for an official photo. CJCS Dunford and his wife stood to their left. An unidentified military leader and his wife stood to POTUS’ right.
“Tell us when you’re ready,” POTUS told the photographer. “Be careful, don’t push.”
“Our faces are tired,” one of the spouses joked.
A couple of seconds later, POTUS pointed around the room and asked members of the pool, “you guys know what this represents?”
“Tell us,” one reporter responded.
“Maybe it’s the calm before the storm,” POTUS replied.
“What’s the storm?” another reporter asked. “On Iran? On ISIS? On what?”
“We have the world’s great military people,” POTUS replied. “Thank you all for coming.”
Kristen Welker of NBC News asked, “what storm Mr. President?”
“You’ll find out,” POTUS replied.
“Give us a hint on your Iran decision,” another reporter asked.
POTUS said “thank you, everybody” and pool was ushered out of the room.
