SURPRISE
Trump’s Own National-Security Team Blindsided by NATO Speech
President Trump’s May 25 speech to NATO leaders reportedly shocked his own national-security team when he failed to affirm to America’s commitment to mutual defense with Western Europe. According to a report by Politico, the president himself removed the reference to the so-called Article 5 provision in his talk just before delivering it. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster had all supported Trump leaving the mention in and had made sure to include it, multiple sources told the news site. “They had the right speech and it was cleared through McMaster,” said an unnamed source. “As late as that same morning, it was the right one.” A second source added, “There was a fully coordinated other speech everybody else had worked on”—and it wasn’t the one Trump gave. “They didn’t know it had been removed,” said a third source. “It was only upon delivery.”
READ IT AT Politico
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