People in the White House are scared. Something happened that wasn’t supposed to be possible, considering location and security. Something, or possibly some things, have the potential to be big trouble. But they don’t know what, where or how. The paranoia is rising in a place that’s always worried about these things anyhow. With appreciation for Raw Story:
Top Trump administration officials are gripped by fear that two reporters got their hands on audio recordings of meetings inside the White House Situation Room — one of the most secure rooms on the planet — for a forthcoming book, according to Axios. The outlet reported White House officials believe New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan obtained tapes of Situation Room discussions for their book “Regime Change,” due out June 23. Independent recording devices are forbidden in the room, which Axios noted would make such a leak “a shocking breach” of one of the world’s most protected settings.
Oh, my. It’s not just one thing. It’s multiple tapes from a room where you can’t record. It’s specifically set up that way. They don’t know who made the recordings, how they were recorded, who did it, and who leaked. There are multiple levels to the whole thing. It’s also really disturbing. It’s supposed to be a safe place for discussions, and it wasn’t. This should worry *us* on multiple levels, because we don’t know what would happen if and when they get out. There are several things, like a strategy for the military in and around Iran. This gets worse the more you dig into possibilities and reactions.
The dread inside the West Wing is as much about the unknown as the known. “We’re afraid some of our most sensitive conversations were being recorded,” one administration source told Axios. “And we have no idea which ones.” The alarm was triggered by book excerpts the Times posted ahead of publication, which included verbatim accounts of several Situation Room meetings on the Iran war and the Epstein files. Tellingly, Axios noted, White House officials have not disputed the accuracy of the quoted dialogue — including a blunt moment in which Secretary of State Marco Rubio waved off Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime-change scenarios for Iran. “In other words, it’s bull—-,” Rubio said, according to the account.
That was bad, Mr. Rubio. Wash your mouth out with soap. But seriously now, which meetings were recorded, and what are the events on the recordings? The obvious one is the Iran War. But there could be others, such as, say, immigrants, and what to do, and what to do about ICE/CBP and what happened in some of the northern states. The list is endless. Those are two of the off the top of my head ideas.
Trump himself is “furious” about the blow-by-blow reconstructions of the top-secret talks, per Axios. Haberman and Swan declined to comment. The prospect that the nation’s most closely guarded deliberations could surface word-for-word in a commercial book has rattled an administration already obsessed with hunting down leaks — and, by Axios’ account, unsure how much of what was said behind those secure doors is now in someone else’s hands.
Of *course* Trump is furious. He doesn’t want to look bad ever. And these recordings could include him saying some pretty nasty things, knowing him as we do. Or actually, anyone else. If these are private conversations, there’s *really* no telling what was said. So now the White House has multiple levels of leaks to look for. There’s a huge amount of irony here. And, to be mean, some amusement. The White House has to worry about leaks on multiple levels, with people who just blurt things out (see: Hegseth press conferences and his remarks at Gitmo), including Trump. The people there, all the way up to Trump, have to watch what they say in public, too. Since no one knows how to do that, it presents us with entertainment and giggling. Well, that’s the theory.
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Two words – Signal Gate.
From the get-go these asshats have shown themselves unwilling and/or unable to follow even pretty basic security protocols. Admittedly it can be delicious to be one of a handful of people truly ‘in the know’ on some secret. And yes, in a past life during my active duty days in the Corps while accompanying Navy dudes on overnight security sweeps of classified office spaces I’ve seen classified (sometimes highly classified) documents. I was younger then and my mind worked much sharper and faster and sometimes my eyes automatically went down the page from the big red, in block letters security classification warning that’s at the top of every page of a classified document.
Even if my own clearance was low (it was Secret) I’d turn the thing over and alert the Petty Officer in charge of the detail. He’d take possession and seal it up per protocol and I’d witness his signature on the outside of the envelope. But I’ve kept my silence because I know revealing things I saw would be committing a damned serious felony.
Political operatives (and some top military folks) have been known to think they are special and the rules (and law) don’t apply to them. It’s especially true of civilians and particularly so with asshat rank amateurs. Sneaking in a cell phone or other recording device to have material for a book someday is exactly what you’d expect from Team Trumpers.
Since you note some of the comments I’ve read about this past week were ‘verbatim’ that means recordings and that the reporters heard excerpts. There are two possibilities for the leaks. First, military personnel assigned to the Situation Room sitting in another room making and then leaking illicit recordings. I’m not buying that.
The far more likely source is one or more participants in the meetings recording and then sharing them. They might or might not have realized whomever they shared their “you’ve GOT to hear this!” stuff with recorded it and passed it along to the reporters. However the number of people (and exactly who) was in those situation room meetings is small. Will Trump order HIS top aides investigated up the wazoo complete with polygraphs? Somehow I don’t think so.
I feel bad for the military staff on duty as THEY will get cavity search treatment. A LOT of effort will be made to pin the leaks on one or more of them and they will go broke in lawyer’s fees. Even in a normal administration this is the type of thing where one would obtain high powered civilian counsel. Any JAG lawyer on the team would be there just to ensure the differences between civilian trials and courts martial are followed to the letter. Alas, the kind of legal representation these people will need is hugely expensive. But rest assured Patel and the FBI will do all it can to pin the leaks on those in uniform just trying to do their jobs. Up to and including manufacturing evidence. It won’t matter that that crap will get tossed out in court, the point is to assign blame on anyone not on Team Trump.
I fear it will play out, just as you described. Then, after it’s thrown out of court, we will not hear anymore about it. End of story. Since they can’t scapegoat a military person, that will be the end of it. Of course they will say that they are still investigating it, but nothing will happen.