The former president allegedly spoke about the vessels during an event at his Mar-a-Lago club after he left the White House.
If you missed the breaking news last night, although shocking, most people aren’t actually shocked. Donald Trump has normalized so many illegal, immoral, and unhinged behaviors that if you just change the name in the headline, everything will change. “Donald Trump shared nuclear secrets” makes you say, “Yeah, that’s something he would do. What’s new?” And Republicans: “There’s missing context!” Change it to “Hilary Clinton shared nuclear secrets” and suddenly its a front page news headline in every newspaper and Republicans: “Treason! But our national security! Schedule a 12 hour hearing! LOCK HER UP!”
Flip the script
I heard something very wise yesterday. Someone said, “If you want to check if reactions to something are purely partisan, change the name in the story.” I’ve been saying for years since January 6th that reporters need to ask every Republican, “If Obama claimed that Republicans stole the election in 2016, told the world that there was massive fraud and he actually won by a landslide, refused to begin the transition, and incited ANTIFA to storm the Capitol and beat police officers with flag poles, would you still say that it’s “no big deal?”
If they are big, fat liars and try to say their reaction would’ve been the same as it is now, then require every GOP senator to sign a form listing every crime Trump committed followed by “I agree that these things are okay for any President to do, if a Democratic President does anything equal to or less than the severity of these actions, I will not criticize, complain, hold a hearing, or impeach this President.” Had that question been asked, regardless of whether or not they signed a form, Biden would not be the subject of an impeachment inquiry. What they claim “the Biden Crime Family” has done, is not as bad as what Trump has done to this country. Not to mention the fact that they don’t even have evidence of an impeachable offense!
The Nuclear Submarines
Here are the details of how Trump shared nuclear secrets as reported by HuffPost.
Former President Donald Trump reportedly shared details about America’s nuclear submarine program with an Australian billionaire, who then went on to tell journalists, foreign officials and others about the sensitive information, according to multiple reports.
ABC News first reported that special counsel Jack Smith had learned about Trump’s disclosure to the billionaire — a cardboard magnate named Anthony Pratt — as part of his investigation into the former president’s handling of classified documents. Trump allegedly told Pratt several government secrets about the submarines during an event at his Mar-a-Lago club and residence in Florida, where the billionaire is a member.
Pratt reportedly told prosecutors and FBI agents that he brought up the submarine fleet in April 2021, after Trump had left the White House. The former president then revealed the supposed number of nuclear warheads that are on board U.S. submarines at any time and how close the vessels can get to a Russian submarine without detection.
The billionaire, ABC News added, shared that information with at least 45 people, including three former Australian prime ministers, a half dozen journalists and other foreign officials. Australia recently inked a deal with the United States to spend up to $245 billion over the next three decades to build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.
It’s unclear if the details were accurate or if they were bluster or exaggerations, but ABC News reported that Pratt was informed by investigators not to share the numbers he was reportedly given.
Reporting by The New York Times and ABC news:
The New York Times, which confirmed the report with people familiar with the matter, said the details would be highly protected information and could endanger the U.S. nuclear fleet if made public. A former Australian ambassador to the United States told the paper the information wasn’t new to his country, saying: “If that’s all that was discussed, we already know all that.”
“We have had Australians serving with Americans on U.S. submarines for years, and we share the same technology and the same weapons as the U.S. Navy,” the former ambassador, Joe Hockey, said.
The reported information was not included in Smith’s federal indictment of Trump earlier this year related to his handling of classified documents after he left the White House. Trump was charged with 40 counts related to willful retention of documents and obstruction of justice. But it could be used as part of the ultimate case against him to bolster any pattern of Trump’s handling of sensitive material.
“Trump did nothing wrong”
A Trump spokesperson told ABC the former president did “nothing wrong,” adding the report lacked “proper context and relevant information.”
“President Trump did nothing wrong, has always insisted on truth and transparency, and acted in a proper manner, according to the law,” the spokesperson told ABC News.
My opinion: Trump did this to show off and display the power he had as President. “I know secrets that no one else knows!” What he did is wrong and illegal, but his intent was more stupidity than nefarious.
What do you think? I’m interested to hear everyone’s opinion on this one! Comment below.
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