President Donald Trump hadn’t read the report when he criticized it Wednesday. But he has now read the report — and he’s right!
That’s just about what the commander-in-chief told reporters in the Oval Office Thursday regarding the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s Worldwide Threat Assessment, which was released Tuesday.
As was widely reported, the annual report’s top lines contradict many of the President’s favorite talking points.
“Iran is not currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons-development activities we judge necessary to produce a nuclear device,” it read. And later: “North Korea retains its WMD capabilities, and the IC continues to assess that it is unlikely to give up all of its WMD stockpiles, delivery systems, and production capabilities.”
But, Trump said Thursday, having read the report… he’s right!
“I didn’t see the report from the intelligence…” he began telling the White House press corps before trailing off. “When you read it, it’s a lot different than was covered in the news.”
That’s essentially an admission that when Trump trashed intelligence leaders on Twitter Wednesday, he hadn’t read the thing he was criticizing.
The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran. They are wrong! When I became President Iran was making trouble all over the Middle East, and beyond. Since ending the terrible Iran Nuclear Deal, they are MUCH different, but….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2019
….a source of potential danger and conflict. They are testing Rockets (last week) and more, and are coming very close to the edge. There economy is now crashing, which is the only thing holding them back. Be careful of Iran. Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2019
Trump separately claimed the intelligence leaders told him that media coverage of their public, televised Senate testimony on the report was both “mischaracterized” and “fake news.”
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
Q: "Did you talk to your intelligence chiefs today about the displeasure you had with their…"
President Trump: "I did. They said that they were totally misquoted, and they were totally – it was taken out of context…The said it was fake news." pic.twitter.com/odd6tVSxfY
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 31, 2019
