At yesterday’s rally in Florida, Donald Trump went into great detail in describing a video he watched. According to Trump the video was a “perfect” shot from a “perfect angle, nice and steady.” The video was of Iranian officials offloading millions of dollars delivered by the United States.
But here’s a funny thing: there is no such video.
As Fox News reported on the controversial transfer of $400 million in cash to Iran in January, it repeatedly played dark, grainy footage of shadowy figures walking off a small private plane with bags with hand. The video is often labeled as being from Jan. 17 in Geneva where three Americans first landed after being released from prison in Tehran.
Republican nominee Donald Trump watched this sort of footage, according to his spokeswoman, and concluded that it showed the controversial money transfer that was described in detail for the first time this week by the Wall Street Journal.
In Donald Trump’s ever churning mind, a dark, grainy video of three freed hostages with carry-on bags exiting a plane in Switzerland, became a perfect, nice and steady video of Iranians unloading cash in Tehran.
That’s crazy enough. But what’s really crazy is that, even though his own campaign issued a correction after he told the video story in Florida, Donald Trump is now in Maine … and he’s telling the same story again.
Trump didn’t just mistake the actions of a couple of people shuffling from a plane. He didn’t just fail to notice the big “Geneva, Switzerland” emblazoned on the screen. He created a full technicolor mirage, which he then conveyed to his audience.
Donald Trump's campaign is admitting the Republican presidential nominee never saw a video of the U.S. offloading wooden pallets of euros, Swiss francs and other currencies in Tehran, despite the fact that he described such a video in full detail yesterday.
The trip from Florida to Maine? That’s not the only trip Donald’s been on over the last couple of days. He’s describing things that didn’t happen, after his own campaign said they didn’t happen, and he keeps adding new details to the didn’t happen thing.
That big question that starts with “Is Donald Trump ...” ? I think we have an answer.