Shouting Heard After White House Press Briefing
Opposing Views
16 May. 11:00
Tensions at the White House are seemingly at an all time high, as journalists reported hearing shouting from staffers after a short press briefing.
Reporters at the White House said they could hear what sounded like shouting coming from the Cabinet Room where Press Secretary Sean Spicer, chief White House counsel Steve Bannon, Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and White House Communications Director Mike Dubke convened following a press briefing, BuzzFeed News reported.
"WH comms staffers just put the TVs on super loud after we could hear yelling coming from room w/ Bannon, Spicer, Sanders," tweeted White House correspondent Adrian Carrasquillo.
The press briefing took place shortly after the Washington Post reported that President Donald Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian officials regarding the Islamic State.
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster reportedly stumbled into the crowd of reporters as he made his way through the West Wing.
"This is the last place in the world I wanted to be," he was heard saying, according to the Associated Press. "I’m leaving. I’m leaving."
Shortly after, written statements were sent by the press office. Spicer then said McMaster would speak outside in the West Wing driveway.
"I was in the room, it didn’t happen," McMaster told reporters. "The president and the foreign minister reviewed a range of common threats to our two countries including threats to civil aviation. At no time, at no time were intelligence sources or methods discussed and the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known."
But McMaster only spoke for approximately one minute, and did not answer any specific questions regarding the report.
That's when the White House staffers met in the Cabinet Room. A reporter tweeted about noise emanating from the room, and the staffers reportedly turned up the volume on the office television to drown out any other noises.
Sanders came back out at around 7:30 p.m. to announce that White House officials would not be taking any more questions for the evening.
"We’ve said all we’re going to say," she told reporters.
A U.S. official familiar with the incident told the Washington Post that Trump "revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies."
Another former senior U.S. close to the Trump administration called the news "all kind of shocking.
"Trump seems to be very reckless and doesn’t grasp the gravity of the things he’s dealing with, especially when it comes to intelligence and national security," the official said. "And it’s all clouded because of this problem he has with Russia."
Read Source
Comments