Politics - News Analysis

‘This is Not Normal’: Jen Psaki Reveals Just How Scary It Was That Melania Trump Was in the Situation Room

Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki, responding to reports that former first lady Melania Trump was in the situation room during a 2019 raid against ISIS, noted “this is not normal.”

“No, this is not normal,” she said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Tuesday. “I think it’s important to restate that as much as possible around Trump.”

Psaki was on hand to discuss excerpts from former Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller’s book Soldier Secretary, The Hill reports, having obtained a copy of the book published Tuesday.

Miller wrote that Melania Trump joined then-president Trump, then-Vice President Mike Pence, then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley in the Situation Room as U.S. forces launched a raid that led to the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. At this time Miller was serving as special assistant to the president for counterterrorism and transnational threats and he was not particularly happy that the first lady was in the room.

Her presence in the room, he wrote, was “unexpected to say the least.”

U.S. troops, led by a dog named Conan, made their way into the compound where al-Baghdadi was staying and as forces closed in, the late ISIS leader blew himself up.

In his book, Miller noted that Melania told the former president that he should bring up the dog when announcing the raid to the public. “Everyone loves dogs,” she said.

Psaki said she’s “never” seen a first lady walk into the situation room during the time she served in the Obama and Biden administrations.

“This was an ISIS raid,” Psaki said. “What on earth was the first lady doing there for the security clearance reasons, but also to talk about the dog or anything else? That’s bizarre too.”

I can’t picture Jill Biden or Michelle Obama even being in the Situation Room. Can you?

Melania didn’t belong there and it’s weird that she was even there in the first place.

meet the author

Megan has lived in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida and she currently lives in Central America. Living in these places has informed her writing on politics, science, and history. She is currently owned by 15 cats and 3 dogs and regularly owns Trump supporters when she has the opportunity. She can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GaiaLibra and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/politicalsaurus

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