Donald Trump on Saturday lashed out at former spy chief James Clapper and other ex-officials over criticism of the president’s decision to tweet a photo of an Iranian satellite that was believed to have been classified.
‘Being scolded by failed former “Intelligence” officials, like James Clapper, on my condolences to Iran on their failed Rocket launch,’ the president tweeted on Saturday.
‘Sadly for the United States, guys like him, [former FBI Director James] Comey, and the even dumber [former CIA Director] John Brennan, don’t have a clue. They really set our Country back.’
Trump then added: ‘but now we are moving forward like never before. We are winning again, and we are respected again!’
President Trump on Saturday lashed out at former Obama officials including James Clapper, John Brennan, and James Comey after he was criticized for tweeting a photo on Friday of an Iranian rocket site
‘Being scolded by failed former “Intelligence” officials, like James Clapper, on my condolences to Iran on their failed Rocket launch,’ the president tweeted on Saturday
Trump then added: ‘but now we are moving forward like never before. We are winning again, and we are respected again!’
The president appeared to be reacting to a quote from Clapper, who was the director of national intelligence under Barack Obama.
The president on Friday tweeted a photograph of what he claims was a ‘catastrophic accident’ that took place during the launch of an Iranian rocket.
The image shows what appears to be a launch site that was damaged as a result of an explosion.
But the tweet raised eyebrows because Iran had not acknowledged that an accident took place nor did it blame the United States, according to The New York Times.
‘The United States of America was not involved in the catastrophic accident during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch at Semnan Launch Site One in Iran,’ the president tweeted.
‘I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened at Site One.’
Trump has been accused by Democrats and some experts of damaging national security interests by tweeting a photo that appears to show satellite imagery obtained by U.S. intelligence services.
The high-resolution image shows what looks like a flash from a cell phone camera, suggesting that the president may have taken a photo of the image during a classified security briefing.
When asked about the tweet, Clapper was quoted by The New York Times as saying: ‘You can bet every adversary is going to school on what’s been exposed.
‘I can’t see what the point was, other than to make fun of the Iranians.’
Trump told reporters Friday he had an ‘absolute right’ to release a high-resolution image of a failed Iranian rocket launch, after he needled Iran on Twitter by putting out a photo of it.
Comey was fired from his job as FBI director by Trump shortly after the president took office. He is seen above testifying before Congress in June 2017
Brennan (left) and Clapper (right) have frequently criticized Trump since the president took office. Clapper is the only one of the three mentioned by Trump on Saturday who has criticized the president over the tweet on Friday
‘I just wish Iran well. They had a big problem, and we had a photo and I released it, which I have the absolute right to do,’ Trump told reporters as he left the White House for Camp David.
His comment appeared to acknowledge that the image he tweeted while jeering Iran over the failure was an image produced by the government.
CNBC on Friday reported that a Defense official said the image shared by Trump appeared to be a picture of a physical image provided as part of a Friday intelligence briefing. It was a highly precise aerial shot that labeled parts of the launch site where an Iranian rocket exploded before a schedule satellite launch.
‘They had a big mishap, which is unfortunate,’ Trump said. ‘As you know they were going to set off a big missile and it didn’t turn out too well. Had nothing to do with us,’ he said.
It is unclear why the president on Saturday made mention of Brennan and Comey, the man who Trump fired as FBI director.
Neither has publicly commented on the Iran tweet.
Comey, Brennan, and Clapper, who all served the Obama administration, have been fiercely critical of Trump.
On Thursday’s Trump’s Justice Department announced it would not prosecute Comey even though an internal investigation found that he violated DOJ regulations by leaking information to the press.
The Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General said Comey asked a friend to share the contents of a memo with the New York Times to pressure the department to launch an independent investigation into his conversations with Trump.
In the memo, Comey described a meeting in which Trump allegedly asked him to drop the FBI’s investigation into Michael Flynn, who at the time was his national security adviser.
Flynn has since pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Russian officials.
Comey signed off on an investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia during the 2016 election and later emerged as a prominent critic of the president after Trump fired him in May 2017.
President Trump tweeted an image of an Iranian launch failure. Democrats and intelligence experts have said that the photo may be classified
A handout satellite photo made available by MAXAR Technologies on 30 August 2019, showing a satellite image made by Maxar’s WorldView-2 satellite of the failed Iranian rocket launch at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in northern Iran. Smoke and debris on and near the launch pad can be seen along with numerous support and maintenance vehicles nearby
Trump and many of his allies say that investigation should never have begun.
The Justice Department appointed a special counsel, Robert Mueller, to handle the investigation after Comey left.
That probe unearthed numerous contacts between the campaign and Russian officials but concluded that there was not enough evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy.
The Inspector General said on Thursday that while Comey’s memo did not contain classified material, he set a dangerous example when he shared sensitive information to create public pressure for official action.
‘Were current or former FBI employees to follow the former Director’s example and disclose sensitive information in service of their own strongly held personal convictions, the FBI would be unable to dispatch its law enforcement duties properly,’ the report said.
Comey said on Twitter that people who have accused him of sharing classified information should apologize.
‘To all those who’ve spent two years talking about me “going to jail” or being a “liar and a leaker” – ask yourselves why you still trust people who gave you bad info for so long, including the president,’ he said.
Trump said on Thursday: ‘Perhaps never in the history of our Country has someone been more thoroughly disgraced and excoriated than James Comey in the just released Inspector General’s Report. He should be ashamed of himself!’
White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham called Comey a ‘liar and a leaker’ and said his decision to share information with the press led to a ‘baseless, politically motivated, two-year witch hunt.’