Politics –
Mar-A-Lago Becomes Trump’s
Public Situation Room
Donald Trump seems to have still not yet grasped this whole “presidency” thing and the importance of national security. The proof couldn’t have been more evident than last Saturday night when Trump turned a very public party at his posh Mar-a-Lago estate into a veritable White House Situation Room.
Politics
Over the weekend, Trump’s Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago Club was packed with revelers. There was a wedding reception in the ballroom. There was also a full house for dinner on the terrace. At the dais sat Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Next to him was Donald Trump, who made the inexplicable choice to hash out a national security issue with the prime minister in the open air.
“Someone opened up a laptop, and at the table . . . a group of Japanese people stood around the prime minister and Donald, and they were all looking at the laptop,” said Jay Weitzman, a member of the Mar-a-Lago Club who was sitting only 3 tables away from Trump and the Japanese Prime Minister.
“Whoa! What’s going on?” Weitzman remembered thinking. “Turns out, it was a missile launch,” he added.
HUH??
Exactly how would a private citizen know that a missile launch was being discussed between the US and Japanese leaders? It’s because a completely clueless Donald Trump was discussing the sensitive national security details out in the open for anyone to see and hear, that’s how!
While Weitzman and other patrons looked on, Trump openly discussed his thoughts on the just launched ballistic missile test by North Korea. Waiters came and went. Party goers freely snapped photos of the 2 leaders with their cell phones then immediately posted them to social media — all while Trump and Prime Minister Abe reviewed secret documents by the light of an aide’s cellphone. It was the type of scene one would expect from a Reality TV star, and not the leader of the free world hosting a world ally.
Richard DeAgazio, a retired investor and club member from the Boston area sat 6 tables away. Already, his status as a Mar-a-Lago member provided him unprecedented access to Trump and Prime Minister Abe golfing earlier in the day. However, it was what happened later that evening that was most memorable for the exclusive club member.
During dinner, DeAgazio received a text from a friend who asked if he was aware of the North Korean missile test. Interestingly, he was indeed aware since he was sitting and watching Donald Trump be notified of and then openly discuss the test in real time.
“That’s when I saw things changing, you know,” DeAgazio recalled in an interview, who said he watched staffers surround the 2 world leaders. As Trump turned the dinner table into an impromptu White House Situation Room, DeAgazio continued taking pictures and quickly posted them to Facebook.
“The President receiving the news about the Missile incident from North Korea on Japan with the Prime Minister sitting next to him,” DeAgazio wrote as the caption for a photo he posted on Facebook at 9:07 p.m. Eastern time Saturday.
“HOLY MOLY !!!” De Agazio wrote later, posting more photos of the scene. “Wow . . . the center of the action!!!”
Then, if that wasn’t enough, another exclusive Mar-a-Lago Club member took a photo with the military officer who always travels with the president while carrying the nuclear football with the nuclear codes — then posted the name AND image of the man on social media for all to see, as if it were a lark.
Politics
The strange scene of Trump turning his party table into a remote situation room astonished and infuriated White House veterans, who are understandably used to presidents retiring to private, secured settings to discuss matters of national security. Needless to say, the Democratic leadership in Washington was not amused.
“There’s no excuse for letting an international crisis play out in front of a bunch of country club members like dinner theater,” Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi of California wrote in a tweet.
Democratic and public outcry regarding Trump’s lack of security protocol has since forced the hand of a Republican controlled congressional watch committee to conduct an investigation.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, head of the House of Representatives oversight committee, has asked The White House to provide specific details on why Trump engaged Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a discussion on the North Korean ballistic missile test out in the open while dining at Mar-a-Lago.
Photos taken by private guests in the club’s public dining area showed Trump and Abe perusing seemingly sensitive documents while surrounded by their aides, following the Pyongyang missile launch.
“Reports and social media accounts have suggested White House staff used their own cell phones to provide illumination for reviewing documents,” Chaffetz said in a letter to White House chief of staff Reince Priebus. “Separately, one Mar-a-Lago guest posted to his Facebook page a photograph with a man described to be the holder of the ‘nuclear football,'” he added.
In other security breach news, Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Sen. Thomas R. Carper of Delaware have written to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to express concern over Donald Trump’s continued use of his old Android phone to send nightly Twitter messages.
McCaskill and Carper reminded Mattis that President Obama was forced to immediately give up his personal cell phone, and added that if a foreign power was able to hack Trump’s non-secure phone, it could be turned into an always-on listening post in his pocket.
“The national security risks of compromising a smartphone used by [the president] are considerable,” the senators wrote.
Additionally, Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico tweeted an Associated Press photo from last week showing Trump standing in the Oval Office with the chief executive of Intel next to a stack of papers on Trump’s desk along with a black bag and a key in plain sight.
“Never leave a key in a classified lockbag in the presence of non-cleared people,” Heinrich warned.
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“Trump ran a campaign based on intelligence security” is a bad premise but holy cow this post: https://t.co/6h1psYm7a1 pic.twitter.com/PPSiPXvJwc
— Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox) February 13, 2017
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This is a perfect photo. So of course the original is on the iPhone of a random Mar-a-Lago person with access to the president. pic.twitter.com/bA1miZvyN4
— Jon Lovett (@jonlovett) February 13, 2017
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White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer attempted to save face by telling reporters that “no classified material” was shared at the table at Mar-a-Lago and that Trump had been briefed in a secure location both before and after dinner. However, his words were in direct conflict with the myriad of photos and social media posts from dinner guests, which clearly proved otherwise.
As Trump has started using his bustling Florida country club as somewhat of a “winter White House,” he should be made aware that, unlike the actual White House, the club is full of other people. So, in light of Donald Trump’s glaring lack of understanding of how national security works, it may behoove his next National Security Advisor to educate him on the obvious: Mar-a-Lago is NOT The White House and a public dinner party is NOT the place to discuss matters of national security with a foreign leader!
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WATCH TRUMP’S UNCOMFORTABLE
47 SECOND HANDSHAKE
WITH JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER
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Ya know…..everyday I find myself having to remind myself that the Majority of American voters did NOT vote for this guy because We knew, as president, he would prove to be an absolute disaster.
When you consider THIS very troubling issue and the many other troubling issues related to this man and his disastrous presidency – issues that are still unfolding before our very own eyes- I'd say, he's already proven Us right.
And he will continue to prove Us right every single day that he remains in the White House.