Exquisite information?? BS
reinforce our embassy in Baghdad and other sites throughout the region."
After telling reporters that Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike this month, sought to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham in a Friday interview: "I can reveal that I believe it would have been four embassies" Soleimani was plotting against.
Esper said the president made no citation of "a specific piece of evidence," adding that Trump was just making clear what he believed to be the case.
"I didn't see one with regard to four embassies," Esper said of a specific piece of evidence leading to Trump's conclusion. "What I'm saying is I shared the president's view ... my expectation was they were going to go after our embassies."
Speaking with CNN's "State of the Union," Esper said intelligence showed "there was an intent to target the U.S. embassy in Baghdad."
"What the president said with regard to the four embassies is what I believe as well," he added. "He said that they probably, that they could have been targeting the embassies in the region. I believe that as well, as did other national security team members."
National security adviser Robert O’Brien on Sunday echoed Esper's comments, telling NBC's "Meet the Press" that the U.S. "had exquisite intelligence" that Iran looking to attack U.S. facilities throughout the region.
"The president’s interpretation of that intelligence is very consistent with it," he added. "So I think this has been a Washington thing—when we tell the American people there was exquisite intelligence and there was going to be an attack on Americans, we had to stop that."
reinforce our embassy in Baghdad and other sites throughout the region."
After telling reporters that Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike this month, sought to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham in a Friday interview: "I can reveal that I believe it would have been four embassies" Soleimani was plotting against.
Esper said the president made no citation of "a specific piece of evidence," adding that Trump was just making clear what he believed to be the case.
"I didn't see one with regard to four embassies," Esper said of a specific piece of evidence leading to Trump's conclusion. "What I'm saying is I shared the president's view ... my expectation was they were going to go after our embassies."
Speaking with CNN's "State of the Union," Esper said intelligence showed "there was an intent to target the U.S. embassy in Baghdad."
"What the president said with regard to the four embassies is what I believe as well," he added. "He said that they probably, that they could have been targeting the embassies in the region. I believe that as well, as did other national security team members."
National security adviser Robert O’Brien on Sunday echoed Esper's comments, telling NBC's "Meet the Press" that the U.S. "had exquisite intelligence" that Iran looking to attack U.S. facilities throughout the region.
"The president’s interpretation of that intelligence is very consistent with it," he added. "So I think this has been a Washington thing—when we tell the American people there was exquisite intelligence and there was going to be an attack on Americans, we had to stop that."