White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declared that Iran poses no threat to the United States, entirely blowing up her boss’s main reason for launching a war with the country.
In a tweet complaining about a report from ABC News that detailed an apparent Iranian threat that could have targeted California, Leavitt contradicted herself and President Donald Trump’s prior assertions.
“TO BE CLEAR: No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did,” she posted Thursday.
While the Trump administration has given a host of reasons as to why it is dragging the U.S. into another war in the Middle East, Trump has repeatedly said that Iran was preparing to attack the U.S. as one of his reasons for launching unauthorized strikes.
“Within a week, they [Iran] were going to attack us 100 percent,” Trump said in Florida on Monday. “I thought that they were going to attack us. I thought they would, if we didn’t do this at the time we did it I think they had in mind to attack us.”
Leavitt defended Trump’s comments when asked where that intelligence was coming from.
“Well, that’s not the first time the president has said that he chose to launch ‘Operation Epic Fury’ because he felt as though Iran was going to strike the United States and our assets in the region first,” Leavitt said at a White House press briefing earlier this week.
“This was a feeling the president had based on facts,” she insisted.
The president has also claimed that Iran was building missles that could “soon” strike the U.S., even though that assertion is not backed up by U.S. intelligence, CNN reported.
When asked by Time Magazine last week if Americans should be concerned about a potential strike in the U.S., Trump gave little assurance that it could not happen, merely responding, “I guess.”
“We expect some things. Like I said, some people will die,” the president said. “When you go to war, some people will die.”
The White House declined to comment when asked by the Daily Beast to provide clarification.
Many online, including Democratic officials, were quick to call out Leavitt for blowing up Trump’s claim.
“This is fantastic. Leavitt using ALL CAPS to make perfectly clear that Iran did not and does not pose any threat to America. And yet we’re at war and gas prices are through the roof!” Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy posted.
“If it was nothing, then why’d the FBI pass it along? This administration has not been straight with the American public since they started this whole mess,” the anti-Trump Lincoln Project posted.
“No such threat to the homeland ever existed but also we had to start a war. What a comms masterclass,” another X user sarcastically said.
“Wait wait wait. Hold on. ‘It never did’ so why the f--k are we at war with them?” another user questioned. “Wasn’t the whole lie about this that they were developing nukes and missiles capable of reaching the homeland?”
