[Infowarrior] - OT: POTUS retweets story w/classified info & anony(!) sources

[Richard Forno]

(Remember, despite railing against them repeatedly, anonymous sources are totally, and ONLY, acceptable when they support one's position, policies, popularity, or crowd size, right? --rick)


Nikki Haley condemns Fox News leak on North Korea, then Trump tweets out the news anyway
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nikki-haley-condemns-fox-news-133330251.html

UN Ambassador Nikki Haley on Tuesday slammed an apparent leak of classified details about US intelligence seeing North Korea load up anti-ship missiles onto a patrol boat.

"I can't talk about anything that's classified and if it's in the newspaper that's a shame," Haley said in an appearance on "Fox and Friends." "It's incredibly dangerous when things go out to the press like that."

"You're not just getting a scoop, you're playing with people's lives," said Haley. 

But it looks like President Donald Trump had another reaction to the anonymous leak.

On Tuesday morning, the president retweeted the story before tweeting: "After many years of failure,countries are coming together to finally address the dangers posed by North Korea. We must be tough & decisive!"

The story, a scoop from Fox's Pentagon reporter Lucas Tomlinson, cited anonymous US defense officials as saying “North Korea is not showing any evidence it plans to halt its missile tests,” and describing "a trend that does not bode well for hopes of de-escalating tensions on the [Korean] peninsula.” 

Tomlinson regularly publishes scoops from the Pentagon, often about breaking news or incidents at sea.

Trump's focus on North Korea comes after the UN Security Council unanimously voted to impose unprecedented sanctions on Pyongyang a month after the Hermit Kingdom first demonstrated an intercontinental ballistic missile. 

As president, Trump can declassify information as he sees fit, and he tweeted on Monday his dissatisfaction with much of the press' coverage of the sanctions on North Korea. 

North Korea has tested ship-launched missiles in the past and relies on boats to receive data from missile tests that stray far from the mainland. The arming of a patrol boat could indicate preparations for another missile test by North Korea.