President Trump said Friday he had the “absolute right” to release a detailed photo of the site of a failed satellite launch in Iran after experts suggested the picture contained sensitive information.
The president commented on the photo, which he had tweeted out earlier in the day, to reporters before leaving the White House for Camp David for the Labor Day weekend.
“I just wish Iran well. They had a big problem. And we had a photo and I released it, which I have the absolute right to do. And we’ll see what happens,” Trump said.
He called the launch attempt a “big mishap.”
An Iranian official told Reuters the attempt to launch a satellite into space failed due to “technical issues.”
The president in his earlier tweet denied that the U.S. had played any role.
The United States of America was not involved in the catastrophic accident during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch at Semnan Launch Site One in Iran. I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened at Site One. pic.twitter.com/z0iDj2L0Y3
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2019
A short time later, NPR reported that experts believed the image was of higher quality than most readily available depictions of the launch site. The high resolution suggested that it may have been a government photo, and that Trump may have released sensitive or classified information in tweeting it out.
Trump previously faced criticism for sharing classified intelligence with the Russian ambassador during a 2017 Oval Office meeting. He offered a similar defense after that incident, tweeting that he had “the absolute right” to do so.
U.S. presidents have the authority to declassify almost any intelligence material.
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- Discussion
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Trump defends tweeting sensitive photo of Iran launch sitehttps://t.co/24UPNmAzuw pic.twitter.com/MR15TCWf7J
— The Hill (@thehill) August 31, 2019
“You can bet every adversary is going to school on what’s been exposed,” James R. Clapper Jr., a former director of national intelligence, said in an email. “I can’t see what the point was, other than to make fun of the Iranians.” https://t.co/tiQ6uZ9QSi
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) August 31, 2019I'm going to respond to this very stupid comment (about Trump's posting his Iran brief photo) to note:
1. It is an intel breach in itself to know what the President knows in real time
2. Google Earth photos don't carry explanatory marks from intelligence analysts on them. https://t.co/7mux0n7ysp— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) August 31, 2019
He’s 100% right. They’re his secrets, essentially, and he can do with them what he wants. If you want a president who is going to be more careful with the dissemination of classified information, you should vote for someone who will be. https://t.co/XXHdARAyEL
— Andrew Exum (@ExumAM) August 31, 2019
We have a president who last week claimed imaginary phone calls with Chinese leaders and released highly classified imagery of an Iranian launchpad. But the elected officials of a political party that once took national security seriously are fine with him having a second term.
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) August 31, 2019
A fascinating thread on what can be learned about US spy satellites when the president tweets out a classified image that hasn’t been degraded for release. https://t.co/R4J5DJd9Lm
— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) August 31, 2019
Whoever it is took the image with an iPhone it seems. Can see a shadow from backlight with a flash artifact on a glossy photo. pic.twitter.com/hyj9XBUfxr
— Mr_Scottch (@Mr_Scottch_) August 31, 2019
This is a good account to follow for insider nat sec stuff. https://t.co/ryn0DJNiOe
— Eli Lake (@EliLake) August 31, 2019
The fact that he started out his taunt by claiming the US had nothing to do with it tells me that we probably did and Trump couldn’t restrain himself from gloating and making fun of them. You know, sort of like a child would do.
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