Was Trump selling classified intel to Saudis? Morning Joe panelists speculate
MSNBC's Claire McCaskill isn't buying the excuse that Donald Trump kept classified documents as keepsakes from his presidency and instead suggested he was planning on selling them.
The former president has been indicted on charges related to the Espionage Act, and both McCaskill and "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough hinted darkly that Trump was involved in trading top-secret national security information for personal gain.
"He put stooges in high places in the intelligence community to ensure that they would be able to control any revelations they might produce that he saw as threatening," Scarborough said, "and perhaps to enable him to come up with dirt on his enemies. He said he would fire the professionals in the U.S. government in a clear effort to be able to replace them with those who placed loyalty to him above loyalty to the country or our Constitution. Now, this is all known, this is all on the public record. He was a threat to national security long before he stole those classified materials and went to great lengths to illegally retain them."
"On top of that he, after Congress approved weapons for Ukraine, add on top of that, that he blackmailed [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and said, 'You're not going to get these weapons until you give me dirt on Joe Biden and Joe Biden's family," Scarborough added. "Add on top of that the Marco Rubio-led intel community in the United States Senate said, let's underline this, Donald Trump's 2016 campaign posed a direct threat to America's national security. That's just what we know. These people suggesting that he didn't have malicious intent in mind, they're ignoring a very, very long paper trail."
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McCaskill agreed that Trump posed a national security threat and speculated that he was planning to sell classified materials to Saudi Arabia.
"It's just fascinating to me that people in Congress who understand the consequences of what he has done and how he has done it, continue to defend him," she said. "I mean, you know, we've talked about what he would do with these documents. One of the things ... is that he could use them to continue to curry favor with Saudi Arabia, and what could Saudi Arabia do for Donald Trump right now? They could cut production of oil and raise gas prices. Nothing could hurt Joe Biden more than raising gas prices next year, three, four months from the election, and Trump knows that."
"He is willing to do anything to do two things: promote himself and make money, country be damned," McCaskill added.
Scarborough suggested the former president had another motive for selling U.S. intelligence information to the Saudis.
"It's so fascinating that you say that, Claire," he said. "On the Drudge Report, there are all the headlines about the indictments, but at the very top, the headline, 'Saudi crown prince threatened major economic pain on the U.S. amid oil feuds,' and by the way, what was Donald Trump angry about regarding his son-in-law, Jared Kushner? That Jared Kushner got $2 billion for his fund from the Saudis and he didn't get a cut of it. According to reports, he was enraged that he didn't get a cut of the money that Jared went out and raised after he left the White House."
"Maybe, this is again speculation," Scarborough added, "we're not exactly sure why they're not communicating as much, but there was a real bitterness that he didn't get a cut of that money, and there's no doubt he wants a cut, not only of that money, but of Saudi money."
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