Secretary Esper Scorched Over Claim That Iran Targeted 4 US Embassies
Reprinted with permission from Alternet
Defense Secretary Mark Esper made the morning show rounds on Sunday, ostensibly to provide cover for the Trump administration’s claim that Iranian General. Qassem Soleimani posed an “imminent threat” to United States personnel prior to his assassination. In doing so, however, Esper highlighted the administration’s evolving justifications for launching the strike that killed Soleimani, and contradicted President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claim the Iranian commander was planning an attack on “four embassies” in the region.
Speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Esper insisted Trump “never said there was specific intelligence to four different embassies.”
“What the president said was he believed it probably could have been,” Espert told Tapper. “He didn’t cite intelligence.”
In fact, in an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Friday, Trump purported to be divulging intelligence to the contrary.
“I can reveal that I believe it probably would’ve been four embassies,” the president told Ingraham.
Asked about the president’s claim in a separate interview with CBS’ Margaret Brennan on Sunday, Esper admitted he “didn’t see” evidence showing a plan to attack 4 U.S. embassies.
Defense Secretary Esper tells @margbrennan "I didn't see" tangible evidence of an Iranian plan to attack four U.S. embassies https://t.co/S5Opa06Upw
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) January 12, 2020
The whiplash wasn’t lost on viewers, who took to Twitter to express disbelief over Esper’s performance — and questioned why anyone would believe the defense secretary in light of the Trump administration’s shifting cover for the attack.
Legit surprised me that Sec. Esper led right off in the @CNNSotu interview by highlighting and underscoring the president's "believed" framing from the Ingraham interview. https://t.co/Atglpcb6Am
— David Swerdlick (@Swerdlick) January 12, 2020
On CNN, Mark Esper makes it absolutely clear that the Trump administration is making it up as they go when they claim Soleimani posed an imminent threat to 4 different US embassies pic.twitter.com/Cm16XkOrlo
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 12, 2020
What an astoundingly embarrassing “defense” of President Trump’s claim of bomb threats to four embassies.
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) January 12, 2020
“What the President said was he believed it probably could have been. He didn’t cite intelligence.”
– Defense Secretary Mark Esper pic.twitter.com/b5LwrlbC4K
3. And worse:
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) January 12, 2020
Esper admits to @margbrennan he never saw any intelligence of threat to four embassies.👇
Trust me — as a former Special Counsel at Pentagon — if the Secretary of Defense never saw that intelligence, it does not exist. pic.twitter.com/7xkFA9nD0G
Oh, that Esper, he's one of the good ones. Smart. Great background. A serious player. Not just a corporate hack. But wait, he behaves like all the other shills and sycophants. And he places party and Trump loyalty ahead of US national interests. So…maybe, not so great, eh? https://t.co/d940gUA0gY
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) January 12, 2020
Imagine being an adult in 2020 and taking a world historical liar at his word. Mark Esper is not a serious person. https://t.co/u20EuYGkf3
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 12, 2020
Esper admits that there is no evidence to back up Trump’s claims of imminent attack. He falls back on “belief.” Just to be clear, he is saying that because Trump believes it to be true, it is true. https://t.co/hFjVyk7p1A
— Joe Cirincione (@Cirincione) January 12, 2020
Why would anyone take this President’s word on anything? Esper should have resigned before issuing a strike order. https://t.co/VZvBkoAy6r
— Jon B. “No War With Iran” Wolfsthal (@JBWolfsthal) January 12, 2020
Tapper just asked Esper about Trump's claim that Iran was planning to hit 4 embassies. Esper says "I believe that as well." Where's the intelligence? How come there are so many different stories?
— Wajahat "Abu Khadija" Ali (@WajahatAli) January 12, 2020
