WH Chief Mulvaney Says He’s ‘Not Too Concerned’ When Trump Doesn’t Have Correct Information or Know Facts
President Donald Trump‘s acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said he’s “not too concerned about the details” when pressed by CNN’s Jake Tapper about comments the president made about Russia’s 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.
Trump said during a cabinet meeting this week that Russians “were right” to invade Afghanistan, and that “the reason Russia was in Afghanistan was because terrorists were going into Russia.”
Those remarks naturally caused an uproar: they’re more closely aligned with Soviet propaganda than the facts of the 1979 invasion. Even the Wall Street Journal‘s editorial board called Trump out for the “absurd” claim.
On CNN’s State of the Union, Tapper first pressed on Mulvaney on the “challenge” of “controlling the flow of information” to Trump, who often spouts incorrect information.
Mulvaney insisted “the president gets the best information available,” and argued Trump sometimes disagrees with his advisers on decision-making.
“I’m not talking about the decisions,” Tapper replied. “I’m not taking issue with the decisions. I’m taking issue with bad facts, information that’s incorrect, such as why the Soviet Union went into Afghanistan. And I’m wondering if you are at all concerned that there is a campaign to get bad information to President Trump?”
“Without giving away too many of the inside secrets,” Mulvaney said, “I have seen every single piece of information that goes onto the resolute desk, I’ve seen every single piece of information that goes to the residence at night, and I have not seen anything objectionable.”
“But you know that it’s not true that the Soviet Union didn’t invade Afghanistan because of terrorist attacks on the Soviet Union, and it was nod a good thing that they went in there, right?” a perplexed Tapper asked.
“I think those are comments the president made borne out of frustration for where we are,” Mulvaney replied. “I’m not too concerned about the details.”
Watch the clip above, courtesy of CNN.
[Featured image via screengrab]
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