Donald Trump Admits He Never Watched That “Top Secret” Iran Video

Surprise! The footage does not exist.


Speaking at a campaign rally in Daytona, Florida on Wednesday, Donald Trump spoke in length about having watched a video that allegedly showed Iranian officials “pouring” $400 million off of a plane on the same day Tehran released four American prisoners back in January.

His remarks, which immediately sparked concern that the Republican nominee was divulging classified information, aligned with a report that the US had sent $400 million to Iran on the same day that it freed the American prisoners, a payment critics have decried as ransom. Both U.S. officials and Trump’s own campaign staff were quick to dismiss Trump’s assertion that any such video even existed. Nevertheless, the real estate magnate continued repeating his claim.

But by Friday, Trump appeared to change his story. He tweeted the following mea culpa:

And there you have it—Trump did something truly shocking on Friday: admit he was flat out wrong.

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We just keep seeing it happen: Newsrooms owned by billionaires and corporations are spinning their own narratives, overwriting the truth, following only stories that keep them in the pocket of those with even more power.

Not here. We’re not owned by anyone. We’re not part of any cult that demands our allegiance to a bottom line. We’ve spoken up and spoken out while other newsrooms changed their stories—or cut them altogether—to keep the C suite happy.

Our mission is to find the truth and amplify it. That’s why we’re independent, nonprofit, and, crucially, funded by readers. The investigations on our website will always be free to read, watch, and listen to, but our newsroom is powered by readers who pitch in what they can so we can keep asking the hard questions.

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