US President Donald Trump claimed that the military strike that ordered Iran’s nuclear facilities on Sunday morning “completely wiped out” Iran’s uranium enrichment capabilities.
And after the first classified US intelligence report contradicted its claims, Trump and his administration slammed the document and the media that covered it, slamming it off the review.
The conflict between Trump and his own evaluation of the Intelligence Reports Community section continued through Wednesday in The Hague, where the US president attends the NATO summit, asking several questions about the leaked documents.
But it was just the latest example of Trump publicly opposed the US intelligence report conclusions in politics over the past decade, whether in Russia, North Korea, Venezuela or Iran.
This is the latest SPAT, and here is the long history of Trump’s long intelligence report ratings:
What is Trump’s latest disagreement about US intelligence?
On June 21, the US joined Israel on a strike against Iran. The US military collided with three Iranian nuclear sites, Fordou, Natanz and Isfahan, equipped with missiles and bunkerbuster bombs.
Trump has praised the successful US attack on Iran multiple times. “Iran’s major nuclear enrichment facility has completely disappeared,” he said at an address aired from the White House after the attack.
However, the Defense Intelligence Communications Agency (DIA), a secret preliminary report by the Department of Defense Intelligence Communications Force, suggested that not the case.
According to a report by the DIA, the US attack has reverted Iran’s nuclear program to less than six months.
In its DIA assessment, Iran moved its stockpile of enriched uranium before the strike. As a result, most of the materials that Iran could theoretically enrich weapon-grade uranium was not destroyed.
On Tuesday, the White House rejected the findings of the Intelligence Report’s findings. “This suspected rating was incorrect and was classified as a ‘top secret’,” White House press director Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, describing anyone who leaked the document as “a low-level loser in the intelligence news community.”
“This suspected rating leak is an attempt to clearly not trust the brave fighter pilot who has made a completely executed mission to lightly mean President Trump and eliminate Iran’s nuclear program. Everyone knows what happens when they completely drop 14 30,000 pound bombs on their target.”
Trump also rejected the report on Wednesday during the NATO summit in the Netherlands, continuing to assert that the US had destroyed Iran’s nuclear capabilities and denied claims that Tehran had powered rich uranium. “I don’t think they had a chance to leave anything because we acted so quickly,” Trump said.
“And they knew we were coming,” Trump added. “And if they know we’re coming, they’re not going to be there. [in the underground sections of the nuclear facilities]. ”
On Wednesday, the White House website published an article entitled Iran’s nuclear facility had disappeared. Otherwise, the proposal is fake news.
In addition to Trump, the article also cites Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission, saying, “The devastating US strike at Fordow has destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered enrichment facilities inoperable.” Of Iran’s three major nuclear sites, Ford is buried deep in the mountains, making it the hardest to reach Israeli missiles. So Israel convinced the United States to attack the facility with a bunker bomb.
Additionally, a White House article cites Trump-appointed US Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Tarsi Gabbard.
John Ratcliffe, director of the Central Intelligence Bureau (CIA), also forked from the DIA report, saying the US had “severely damaged” Iran’s nuclear facility.
In a statement posted on the CIA website on Wednesday, Ratcliffe said: “The CIA can confirm that a body of trustworthy information can confirm that Iran’s nuclear program has been seriously damaged by recent targeted strikes.
But Trump’s track record of intelligence reviews and mistrust of the intelligence news community runs far deeper than Iran.
Did Trump oppose the intelligence of the United States during his first term?
Yes, multiple times including:
2016: Russia’s election interference
In July 2016, the US intelligence news community accused Putin of interfering in the US presidential election, with the aim of helping Trump defeat Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton.
That November, Trump won the election. His transition team replied with the intelligence report, which concluded that the Russian hackers had interfered badly in the election.
In a statement, Trump’s transition team said: “These are the same people that Saddam Hussein said he has weapons of mass destruction.”
In an interview in December 2016, Trump himself said:
He added: “No one really knows. Hacking is very interesting. If you hack, you won’t catch them if they don’t catch them with the act. They don’t know if it’s Russia or China or someone. It could be that someone is sitting in the bed.
2018, once again about Russia’s election interference
In July 2018, the United States indicted 12 Russian military intelligence officers, accusing them of being involved in “active cyber operations to interfere in the 2016 presidential election,” according to Attorney General Rose Rose Rosenstein, who was involved in “an aggressive cyber operations to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.” The indictment was part of an investigation into allegations of conspiracy between the Trump team and Russia prior to the 2016 election, led by former FBI director Robert Mueller.
That same month, Trump met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for a joint summit in Helsinki. At a joint press conference after the two leaders had a private one-on-one discussion, Trump supported Putin by the Russian leader’s claim that the Kremlin had not interfered in the 2016 election.
“I have great confidence in my intelligent people, but I will tell you that Putin was very strong and powerful in his denial today,” Trump said.
“He said it’s not Russia. I’d say this: I can’t see any reason why it would happen.”
Trump also said Mueller’s investigation was a “disaster in our country” and drove a wedge between Washington and Moscow, “the two biggest nuclear forces in the world.”
Former CIA director John Brennan called for Trump’s statement at a press conference, saying “There’s nothing but treason.” Trump later pulled Brennan’s security clearance. These clearances allow selected previous officials to access the classified information and briefings.
2019, Iran, North Korea, ISIL (ISIS)
In 2019, Trump once again denounced the intelligence news community and opposed them on multiple issues.
On January 29, 2019, the US Intelligence Report Community told a Senate committee that there was a nuclear threat from North Korea and that Iran has not taken any steps to create a nuclear bomb.
The intelligence agency said it does not believe Iran is violating the joint comprehensive plan of action, a nuclear deal signed between Iran and a group of countries led by the US in 2015.
“Intelligent people seem very passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran. They’re wrong!” Trump wrote to X before calling Twitter.
“Beware of Iran. Perhaps intelligence should go back to school!” Trump wrote in another X post.
Meanwhile, the US Intelligence Agency said it is unlikely that North Korea will abandon its nuclear program.
On January 30th, Trump contradicted this in an X post.
During his first term, Trump worked directly with North Korean leader Kim Jong, and in June 2019 he met him in a reinforced, unarmed region between the two South Koreas.
Meanwhile, the US spy chief warned that ISIL (ISIS) armed groups will continue to announce attacks from Syria and Iraq on enemies in the region and western parts of the United States.
That rating was different from Trump’s view. In December 2018, he withdrawn 2,000 US troops from Syria because ISIL (ISIS) poses no threat. “We won ISIS,” he said in the video.
What have Trump and the US intelligence agency clashed recently?
His second semester also differed from the Intelligence Reports community’s conclusions on multiple opportunities, including:
April, crossing Venezuela
Trump’s current term of office is marked by aggressive immigration crackdowns. In March he signed a declaration calling for the Alien Enemy Act of 1798. Trump’s declaration allegedly that Venezuelan gangster Tren de Aragua “convicted, threatened, and threatened” U.S. territory.
The declaration states that all citizens of Venezuela who are “gang members” over the age of 14 and are not naturalized or legal permanent residents are responsible for being detained and removed as “an alien enemies.”
In his declaration, Trump said that Tren de Aragua had said, ” [Venezuelan President Nicolas] “The Maduro regime, including military and law enforcement.”
However, in April, a classified assessment from the National Intelligence Council (NIC), the DNI arm, showed no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government. The assessment found that the gang was not supported by Venezuelan government officials, including Maduro.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was the only one of the 18 organizations that made up the US intelligence news community to oppose the assessment.
In June, via Iran’s nuclear weapons
On March 25, Trump’s Dni Gabbard clearly told Congress members that Iran was not heading towards building nuclear weapons.
“I C [intelligence community] Iran continues to appreciate that he has not built nuclear weapons and the Supreme Leader [Ali] Khamenei does not allow the nuclear weapons programme that was stopped in 2003,” Gabbard said.
However, on June 17, Trump told reporters that after his early withdrawal from the group of Canada’s seven summits, Iran believes he is “very close” to building nuclear weapons.
Trump’s own mistrust of the intelligence news community is widely attributed to what he described as a “witch hunt” against him, namely allegations that Russia interfered in order to help him win the 2016 election.
At a 2018 press conference in Helsinki, Trump said: “It was a beautiful campaign. It easily beat Hillary Clinton.”
