President Donald Trump apparently decided to bomb Iran and “get in on the action” Saturday after watching Fox News praise Israel for striking the country earlier this month, says New York Times reporter Helene Cooper, who cited Pentagon and Trump administration officials.
Cooper argued Monday on MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes that Trump previously prided himself on being a noninterventionist, and said he maintained an “America First” perspective even after Israel attacked Iran on June 13, but that a shift occurred the very next day.
“One official told me that it started as early as the next morning when President Trump woke up and watched Fox News and started to see how well Israel was being presented as doing,” Cooper, who also spoke with U.S. military and Pentagon officials, said Monday.
“Israel was hitting all of these Iranian sites, it was taking out military commanders, nuclear scientists, and that was being presented on Fox as this huge victory,” she continued.
“And he decided that he wanted a piece of it,” she said of Trump.
Cooper explained that the president then started taking credit for some of Israel’s operations, citing a June 17 social media post in which Trump said “We” have taken control of Iran’s airspace, and that a meeting with his national security advisers cemented the decision to enter the war.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/marcomargaritoff/trump-decision-bomb-iran-influenced-by-fox-news