Trump Blasts People “Dumb Enough to Believe” He’d Act Inappropriately With a Foreign Leader

His tweets follow a report of a whistleblower’s claim that Trump made an alarming promise to a leader from abroad.

John Gibbins/ZUMA

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

What did President Donald Trump promise a foreign leader?

That’s the question rattling Washington this morning after an explosive report late Wednesday in the Washington Post detailed a whistleblower’s claim that the president made an alarming offer to a yet-unknown foreign leader that prompted a US intelligence official to file a formal complaint with the inspector general.

The revelation isn’t exactly extraordinary for this president. Trump did, after all, kick off his presidency by disclosing highly classified information to the Russians while chatting in the Oval Office. Last month, he shared what appeared to be a sensitive satellite image on his Twitter account. In between, the president has repeatedly sidelined the intelligence community in favor of foreign interests.

But who’s keeping track? On Wednesday morning, Trump blasted “anybody dumb enough to believe” he’d make such disturbing commitments to a foreign leader. In denying the Post’s report, Trump appeared to assert that he would not have acted inappropriately while others were listening.

Meanwhile, in a closed-door briefing Thursday morning, Trump’s handpicked inspector general of the intelligence community, Michael Atkinson, refused to disclose to lawmakers information on the whistleblower’s complaint—a standoff that once again has Democrats demanding to know whether the administration is covering up on behalf of the president.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate