Trump on letting officials listen to WH phone calls "I may end the practice entirely

[Dennis Donovan]

Link to tweet

Kelly O'Donnell ✔@KellyO

NEW: "I may end the practice entirely" the president tells Geraldo Rivera on his radio program referring to the longstanding practice that many officials/staff listen during presidential calls with foreign leaders.

2:29 PM - Feb 13, 2020

This would be DANGEROUS.

[ScratchCat]

1. "Letting"

Just stop, its too much

[FiveGoodMen]

4. It's all true unless and until someone actually stops him.

[ScratchCat]

6. You don't "let" the NSA do anything

The NSA does what the NSA does. They can be listening to anything they want and Trump really has no idea about it or a way to stop them. I doubt he even has the legal authority to do so. People seem to be confused about what powers the Constitution gives the Executive Branch. If he says, "NSA, stop listening to my phone calls", they say, "Ok", and keep listening. That's how it works.

[FiveGoodMen]

16. And is there any sign of them restraining him?

So, they listen to whomever they want to …

If they don't -- or can't -- use what they hear, what help is that?

When someone draws a line that Trump can't cross, I'll pay attention.

[Skidmore]

2. Well, since he's

given to using unsecured lines and Twitter, would it make difference?

[secondwind]

3. K&R for visibility

[royable]

5. There's a reason it's called the NATIONAL SECURITY Agency, but I forget what it is....

...oh, yes! It's NATIONAL SECURITY!

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

9. In his mind, "National Security" means "Trump Security."

His constant question is not, "How will this affect the security of the United States," but rather, "How will this affect my personal security -- and profits?" Anything which gets in the way of Trump Security must be eliminated, starting with translator notes from his secret meetings with Putin.

Life for Fat Donnie is a zero-sum game: it's not only important that he wins, it's equally (if not more) important that you lose -- and in the most publicly humiliating way possible.

The GOP is completely on board with everything Trump does, no matter how much it hurts the security of the United States. They said so at the impeachment trial. Whatever happens in the future -- attacks on our elections, or even worse, attacks like 9-11 -- is completely on them. They own it.

[mwooldri]

7. Not to worry, the other four of the Five Eyes, plus Russia and China...

... are already listening anyway.

[SWBTATTReg]

8. Better yet, why don't you stop talking on the phone 100%. That'll work too.

[Zorro]

10. I think it's NSC not NSA

[Dennis Donovan]

11. It's more than either entity - CIA, DNI, etc

I used NSA a quick shorthand.

...just changed it to generic "officials".

[onenote]

12. The NSC operates at the direction of the President

If he wants to tell them not to monitor calls, he has the legal authority to do that.

[Dennis Donovan]

13. Maybe, but there's a reason for the practice to begin with.

One, I'm guessing, would be to make sure something said by our POTUS or a foreign leader wouldn't be misquoted, or what was said misconstrued, turning into a diplomatic incident.

[onenote]

14. Of course there is a reason. And a good one.

Since when has that mattered to Trump?

[struggle4progress]

15. "I just don't like having other people on the phone during my shakedown calls"

[Rhiannon12866]

17. I heard this and it stuck with me, too.

I'd love to visit any presidential library, it's fascinating to learn more about the details of our history. Even Richard Nixon's library would be extremely interesting. But I cannot imagine what would possibly happen regarding Trump! Will there be any sort of "legacy??" We know that he doesn't read books and not much of anything else.

Where are the photos, like those of Obama, sitting late working at his desk? Have we ever seen anything at all on that desk? We've heard that he rips up papers all the time which staffers have to rescue and tape back together. They stick things in front of him which he scrawls on, then holds them up for the cameras. Has he even read what he signs??

Everything that any president does is part of our history. The POTUS is just a representative of the American people. The people (and those elected to represent the American people) decide the policies of this country. The president's job is to implement these decisions. But Trump is used to only answering to himself - and his few employees were his kids and a few "yes" people hired to carry out his orders. He has no knowledge of history or the legacy of service that any POTUS brings to the office. I cringe what history will make of Trump.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

18. History is written by the victors. We must make sure his sycophants do not write it.

We need to make sure that ethical historians write the saga of this era. You could run the entire GOP through a blender and not squeeze out enough ethics to keep a fruit fly alive.

[Rhiannon12866]

19. It's still pretty shocking that they are blatantly behaving this way, let alone getting away with it

Kind of like the KKK now has no need to wear hoods, they're abhorrent behavior is all out in the open - because of Trump, it's been (as they say) "normalized." And for the rest of us, it's continually shocking and unbelievable.