'Bit in contrast': Trump immediately blows up Rubio's statement on Israel attack
President Donald Trump acknowledged in a social media post that he gave Israel the go-ahead to attack Iran, going against claims from his own administration officials.
Israel deployed 200 fighter jets to target Iran's nuclear programs and kill multiple top military leaders, and the president's 5:56 a.m. EST post on Truth Social – "I told them, in the strongest of words, to 'just do it'" – contradicted secretary of state Marco Rubio's statement from just hours before saying the strike was a "unilateral action."
"This is the first official response we have gotten from president Donald Trump this morning, came in just moments ago," said CNN's Alayna Treene, "and I will note, just before I get into it, that this is a bit in contrast with what we've been hearing now from the White House and from the Trump administration, specifically from secretary of state Marco Rubio, that the U.S. had no involvement whatsoever in the strike. So the statement from him, he posted this on his Truth Social website, he said that he gave Iran 'chance after chance' to try and make this deal, but that they couldn't get it done."
"He said that he warned them of the manpower that both the United States and Israel has, and that those took a hardline position during these negotiations in Iran over a potential nuclear deal are, quote, 'all dead now,'" Treene added, "and then he said, quote, 'there has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. Iran must make a deal before there is nothing left and save what was once known as the Iranian empire. No more death, no more destruction, just do it before it is too late.'"
Another round of talks are scheduled for Sunday in Oman, but Treene said those plans could be in doubt after the strike.
"We did hear from secretary of state Marco Rubio yesterday saying again that the U.S. had no involvement in this and that Israel believed that this action was necessary for self-defense," Treene said. "But we do know as well that Trump administration officials, people here at the White House, they were given [awareness] and told to prepare for these strikes, so they were bracing for this yesterday when we saw those first strikes hit in Iran."
"The president had convened a cabinet-level meeting last night as the strikes were happening," she added. "That meeting, I would like to point out, was actually scheduled before Israel began its attack. They wanted to start to coordinate what the official U.S. response would be, so, again, adding to the point that they kind of knew about this. Now, of course, I think the big picture here is that one, president Donald Trump has not kept quiet about his frustrations with Iran and for what he believes is a very slow pace in the progression of talks over a nuclear deal. Again, to reiterate, they still want to have those talks, they do not believe that this deal is not unsalvageable. But, of course, these attacks really throw that into question."
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