WH aides couldn't reach Trump for THREE HOURS to ask about deleting "white power" retweet

[highplainsdem]

NBC reporting that the retweet had set off a "five-alarm fire" at the WH, but Trump was golfing and had PUT DOWN HIS PHONE, and aides couldn't reach Dan Scavino either.


https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-s-white-power-retweet-set-five-alarm-fire-white-n1232495

President Donald Trump set off a "five-alarm fire" in the White House on Sunday morning after he retweeted a video of one of his supporters saying "white power," according to two White House officials.

The video remained on the president's Twitter page, where he has 82 million followers, for more than three hours because White House officials couldn't reach him to ask him to delete it, the two officials said. The president was at his golf club in Virginia and had put his phone down, the officials said.

Aides also tried unsuccessfully to reach deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino to ask him to delete the retweet, officials said.

-snip-

Once officials were able to reach the president, he agreed to delete it, they said.

-snip-

Mindboggling incompetence.





Editing to add a tweet from Walter Shaub, since it matches my wondering if possibly this is just the cover story for the delay in deleting that "white power" retweet:

Tweeted by Shaub a few minutes ago:

Link to tweet

It took hours for Trump to delete his "white power" retweet. The claim now is that he couldn't be reached while golfing. This leaves 2 horrifying possibilities: (1) his staff wouldn't know how to reach him in an emergency or (2) it took hours to persuade him to delete the video.

[Karadeniz]

1. Dereliction...

[Nevilledog]

2. I...I... can't...ummm....WTAF????

[Bev54]

30. He was probably actually on his phone with Vlad

[highplainsdem]

3. NBC's Maya Wiley: Reading this I just had an image of Keystone cops in white robes

Link to tweet

[soothsayer]

4. Talking to Putin on another line

[unc70]

5. Glad it wasn't anything important

Who was in charge? Where was Haig?

[dawg day]

6. Wouldn't it be great if he'd just leave the phone and golf the rest of his term?

He does more harm than good.

[Journeyman]

7. So in the event of a national security emergency, the President will be incommunicado . . .

for at least long enough for any foreseeable emergency to play itself out?

[Laelth]

8. He was busy. He was golfing.

Priorities, you know?



-Laelth

[Marie Marie]

37. He was probably cheating at golf.

[Laelth]

58. Almost certainly.

He needed a win.

-Laelth

[Johnny2X2X]

9. Bet you he picks up for Putin

Probably in 1 ring.

[alittlelark]

15. Yup.

[kairos12]

10. He needs one of those Get Smart shoe phones.

[AdamGG]

50. Removing the toilet paper could answer the phone

[Cha]

11. Trump's "white power" trip is about to end very soon.

Link to tweet

[highplainsdem]

57. +1,000,000

[DURHAM D]

12. Any other President would immediately be removed from office for

this dereliction.

[oasis]

13. Trump knows what he's doing. The play was to let the"outrage" hang out

there just long enough to draw attention away from "bountygate".

He reached his racist base in the process. Mission accomplished.

[helpisontheway]

14. Why didn't they call his golfing buddy Lindsay Graham?

Did he put his phone down too? 🙄

[alittlelark]

18. Good Point.

[LoveMyCali]

36. Or someone

in his Secret Service detail.

I refuse to believe they couldn't contact him for that long, he just didn't choose to be contacted.

[PCIntern]

42. I agree completely

The SS has how many agents on duty with him? Give me a fucking break. I’m sure they weren’t answering their phones either. Yeah.

[crickets]

54. This. His Secret Service detail could be contacted in seconds.

He just didn't want to delete the video. What an awful, stupid lie to tell. It just makes it worse.

[Blecht]

16. Missile launch been detected

What is our response, Mr. President?

Hello?

[NCjack]

17. IQ-#45 can't even get the simple stuff right.

[Xolodno]

19. So if North Korea fired off a nuke on Japan...

...no one would been able to reach the "President". Yeah, that's not good.

But somehow, I get the feeling, this is going to happen more often. As his poll numbers show him losing and him holding on only to skim off of the campaign, send government duties to his properties to profit, etc. He's going to check out more often.

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

20. "Executive Time" Nappy Time (and Faux Noise Time)

It has been known for several years that mornings are simply listed as "Executive Time" on his daily schedule. I have this image of this person in a gold bathrobe, twitter phone in one hand and remote in the other.

[tblue37]

26. That doesn't leave a hand for his hamberder. nt

[Walleye]

21. He's so paranoid he probably leaves his phone in the clubhouse

Because he thinks people can eavesdrop on his conversations through his phone. 😁

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

22. Nobody could get ahold of the president for *three hours*?

Granted, maybe not being able to get ahold of this president isn't such a bad thing, but the idea of any president being incommunicado for three hours because he's playing golf (or for any other reason) is just fucked.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

23. He Was Probably On The Can, Having A 3-Hour "Hamberder" Movement

[GopherGal]

59. And then flushing 10 times.

[highplainsdem]

24. Joyce White Vance doesn't buy this story that Trump couldn't be reached:

Link to tweet

If she doesn't buy it, then it leaves the other possibility Walter Shaub mentioned in the tweet I added to the OP -- that the aides couldn't get Trump to agree to delete that "white power" retweet at first.

[bobbieinok]

31. Maybe those claiming this are so ignorant they simply don't realize the dire implications

They simply don't realize the dire implications of what yhry are saying.

This claim.....I just can't

[greatauntoftriplets]

25. Had the Secret Service lost their phones?

I'm not buying it.

[Hstch05]

32. Exactly

This was my thought as well. There is no way that the Secret Service detail wouldn't be able to connect with the president at a moment's notice. The only reason why I can think of that they didn't go through his detail was because this was a strictly political matter, and I'm pretty sure they have to log all their communications. But still, it does not pass the smell test.

[Tipperary]

34. I am with you on this.

Total bullshit.

[nolabear]

61. Exactly. This is bullshit.

Chelsea Clinton tweeted that if she needed to talk to her dad she could call him on a pay phone from school and never once was he unreachable. Made me laugh but, seriously...the man might be in a meeting or have to be given a message by someone but unreachable? Please.

[Generic Brad]

27. I want a president who is available for that 3:00 PM call

You never know what might happen in the middle of an afternoon.

[greenjar_01]

39. ROFL

Perfetto!

[genxlib]

28. Are we to believe no one else has access to his Twitter account?

After all, about 1 out of 100 tweets are actually written in coherent english. So I have always assumed one of the junior Nazis has posting privileges.

[highplainsdem]

29. As mentioned in the excerpt in the OP, the aides reportedly tried to reach Dan Scavino, who could

have deleted it, but couldn't reach him either.

And the more I think about this story, the more I think it's just trying to cover for the president not wanting to delete that racist retweet.

[Dem2theMax]

45. "the president not wanting to delete that racist retweet."

Bingo.

[ailsagirl]

33. It warms my heart to know that dump earns every penny of his salary

That moron is paid $400,000 a year, plus an extra expense allowance of $50,000 a year, a $100,000 non-taxable travel account, and $19,000 for entertainment.

[Lock him up.]

56. Well, his base of gullible morons repeats ad-nauseam he donates his salary...

... what they're not aware of is he stole $500M from the taxpayers' credit card and mnuchin doesn't want anyone to know where the money went.

Robber barons of the 21st Century...

Lock em up!!

[dalton99a]

35. Kick

[greenjar_01]

38. It's amazing that Trump fans still aren't embarrassed by this numbnuts

[LudwigPastorius]

40. I find this heartening.

If it had been an actual emergency, nobody wants Trump involved in making any decisions.

[StarfishSaver]

41. That's pure bull

The president has access to immediate communications wherever he is, whether he's in a car, in an elevator, or on the golf course. In addition to the Secret Service and military aide, the White House Communications Agency officers are always just a few feet from him and can connect him to anyone anywhere in the world. That's the main point of their job. If a staffer needs to reach him, the WH switchboard or signal operator can easily patch them through to WHCA, who can put them on the phone with the president within seconds.

White House Communications Agency (WHCA)

Mission: "To provide premier communication systems that enables the President to lead the nation effectively".

WHCA provides telecommunications and related support to the President, Vice President, White House Senior Staff, National Security Council, U.S. Secret Service and others as directed by the White House Military Office.

This support includes non-secure voice, secure voice, record communications, audiovisual and graphic services, and information technology services in Washington, D.C. and trip sites worldwide. https://cybercoe.army.mil/SIGNALSCH/OCOS/HISTORY/history_white_house_communications_agency.html

[Flaleftist]

46. The secret service was my first thought.

No fucking way is the White House staff not able to reach him on a moments notice through them.

I suspect he didn't delete it right away as suggested because he didn't want to.

[StarfishSaver]

52. The Secret Device's primary function is protection, so they're not the first go to

WHCA's entire function is presidential communications. It's their job to make sure he's accessible at all times - and they're damned good at it. But if for some reason, they can't, the Secret Service agents have phones and radios.

There's no way anyone on Trump's senior staff couldn't reach him on the golf course. The president of the United States is NEVER incommunicado.

[lastlib]

43. He left his goddamn phone unattended for THREE f*cking HOURS....

...and no white House staffer SMASHED it (when the opportunity presented itself??!?)

Not only is the presidunce a dumb-cluck--so is his staff!!

[vsrazdem]

44. I thought he wasn't supposed to delete these as they were considered official WH messages?

[brooklynite]

47. You're being really unfair...

Have you ever had to deal with the sand trap on the 7th hole?

[mysteryowl]

48. He is a sex addict.

[C Moon]

49. We'll need to erase #45 from our U.S. Presidential history, and move from #44 to #46.

[Turbineguy]

51. Incompetence is trumps best defence.

[BigmanPigman]

53. Hitler was sleeping late with a Do Not Disturb

directive (which was the norm for Hitler) when the D Day Landings in France began. Oops!

[Quixote1818]

55. I bet he wasn't golfing. The pervy wanker was probably watching porn for 3 hours. nt

[live love laugh]

60. Hamburger coma? nt

[nakocal]

62. Or they purposely left it up as long as they could

as it was red meat for his base of racists.

[yellowcanine]

63. Hmm. About the right amount of time for some side action.

Who did the President shag and when did he shag them?