Two years after Trump tweeted a classified image of Iran, former officials are divided on fallout
On the morning of Aug. 30, 2019, then-President Donald Trump was receiving his daily intelligence briefing with a a select group of senior national security officials, including CIA Director Gina Haspel, national security adviser John Bolton and other top aides.
U.S. officials at the meeting were delighted. The previous day, Iran had attempted to launch a satellite into space, but the launch had failed spectacularly, with the rocket exploding on the pad.
Included in that morning’s briefing materials was a classified image, taken by satellite, of the botched rocket launch, showing extensive damage to the site.
The president was taken by the image. “Trump thought this was very neat, and asked if he could keep it,” said a former Trump administration official. “And after some hesitation, the intelligence briefer said, 'Yes.'"
Officials had been nervous about leaving the image with the president, according to the former official, who attended the meeting. “Gina [and other intelligence officials] may have said something like, ‘Well, don’t do anything with it, don’t show it to anybody.’ But I think he just blew them off. He said, ‘I just want to look at the picture.’”
About an hour later, Trump tweeted the picture.
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-tweeted-classified-satellite-image-of-iran-former-officials-fallout-100003879.html
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