State Department Officials Were Not Alerted to ‘Imminent Threats’ to Four Embassies Trump Claimed: CNN

Last week, President Donald Trump was speaking with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham about the evidence of an imminent attack that justified the strike taking out Qasem Soleimani.

After Trump brought up threats to the embassy in Baghdad, Ingraham asked, “Did they have large-scale attacks planned for other embassies? And if those were planned, why can’t we reveal that to the American people, wouldn’t that help your case?”

The president said, “I can reveal that I believe it would’ve been four embassies.”

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said this past weekend that while he agrees with POTUS Iran would’ve likely targeted the embassies, when pressed on specific evidence, he said, “I didn’t see one with regard to four embassies.”

Today CNN is reporting that while the State Department sent a warning to US embassies before the strike on Soleimani, “it was not directed at specific embassies and did not warn of an imminent attack”:

State Department officials involved in US embassy security were not made aware of imminent threats to four specific US embassies, two State Department officials tell CNN, further undermining President Donald Trump’s claims that the top Iranian general he ordered killed earlier this month posed an imminent threat to the diplomatic outposts.

Without knowledge of any alleged threats, the State Department didn’t issue warnings about specific dangers to any US embassy before the administration targeted Qasem Soleimani, Iran’s second most powerful official, according to the sources.

One State Department official told CNN they felt “blindsided” by the statements from the Trump administration about imminent threats to the embassies.

You can watch Jake Tapper’s report above, via CNN.