The Russia investigation is so unstable that he is now claiming that a White House official who briefed reporters on the North Korea talks doesn’t exist and that the briefing was fake news.
Trump tweeted:
The Failing @nytimes quotes “a senior White House official,” who doesn’t exist, as saying “even if the meeting were reinstated, holding it on June 12 would be impossible, given the lack of time and the amount of planning needed.” WRONG AGAIN! Use real people, not phony sources.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2018
The Trump White House holds press calls like the one that Trump is claiming doesn’t exist all of the time. The press would like to put these calls on the record and quote White House officials, but the administration insists that all of these calls be on background, which means that the names of the officials on the calls can’t be used.
This hasn’t stopped journalists from naming the official that Trump claims does not exist:
The official is Matt Pottinger who serves on the National Security Council. He briefed dozens of reporters on background. https://t.co/5FUP7t8nYQ
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) May 26, 2018
2. To be clear, the only reason I tweeted Matt's name is because I'm not a White House reporter and I was not on this call. I do not believe reporters should violate off record or on background agreements under any circumstances. Not my agreement, so I can tweet.
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) May 26, 2018
3. BTW a background briefing with the WH press corps is much different than an individual reporters conversation with a source. Even though I know who some reporters sources are, I still wouldn't out them. That would be unethical. Background briefings aren't the same thing.
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) May 26, 2018
Trump has either totally lost it, or he has no idea what is going on around him
Trump is desperate for the North Korea summit. He needs a distraction from all of the scandals that are piling up around him. Trump appears to have no idea what is happening in his administration. It is impossible to make policy when the president is so out of touch with reality that he may go off on Twitter at any time and undo what was just said by others in the White House.
The Mueller probe has Trump cooked. He is entirely detached from reality and has no idea what is going on around him. It has gotten so bad that he is now calling briefings from his own White House fake news.
For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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