Video has surfaced of remarks Donald Trump gave at a private breakfast Thursday morning—wherein he equated several White House officials with “spies,” and implied that they should be executed, Bloomberg reported late Thursday. Trump was meandering through this speech just hours after a nine-page whistleblower complaint was declassified and released to the public, detailing the attempted manipulation of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky by Trump and his associates.
Trump’s comments were first reported by the Los Angeles Times, after they were provided an audio recording by an anonymous attendee of the UN event, where Trump couldn't help but bring up the unnamed whistleblower and the White House officials who came to them with their concerns.
TRUMP: Basically, that person never saw the report, never saw the call, he never saw the call—heard something and decided that he or she or whoever the hell it is—they’re almost a spy. I want to know who’s the person who gave the whistleblower … Who’s the person who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that’s close to a spy. You know what we used to do in the old days, when we were smart, right? The spies and treason, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now.
While a few people in the room laughed at Trump’s careless longing for the days of yore, the Times notes that the Intercontinental Hotel ballroom “stayed mostly silent.”
The first clip released by Bloomberg simply reinforces the Times audio. The second focuses on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter; notably, when Trump insults Biden, the barbs are well-received.
Here’s the tirade on the Bidens, courtesy of vacant look.
TRUMP: Then it turns out they had senators, Democrat senators that went over there and strong-armed the guy: “You better damn well do this or you're not going to get any money from Congress.” Oh, I see. That’s okay?
And then you have sleepy Joe Biden who's dumb as a rock. This guy is dumb on his best day. And he's not having his best day right now. He's dumb as a rock. So you have sleepy Joe, and he goes up, and his kid who's got a lot of problems—he got thrown out of the Navy—I mean, look, it's a problem. That's a problem. So we won't get into why. But he got thrown out of the Navy. And now this kid goes into Ukraine, walks away with millions of dollars, and becomes a consultant for $50,000 a month. And he doesn't know anything compared to anybody in this room.
In contrast to the Times’ 37-second clip, however, the Bloomberg News video, which appears to be recorded on a phone, lasts fifteen minutes. “We’re at war,” Trump said, according to Bloomberg. “These people are sick. They’re sick.”
The full video is yet to be released, but Bloomberg reports that Trump “wandered freely” among his favorite topics—Biden and his son, the size of Rep. Adam Schiff’s body, coal miners’ inability to shift to new industries, how “presidential” he is (and why he says he wants to be president forever), the 2016 election, China, and, of course, the media.
“You know these animals in the press. They’re animals. Some of the worst human beings you’ll ever meet,” Trump said. “They’re scum. Many of them are scum.”
This story is still developing.
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