In response to a Washington Post story reporting that—according to anonymous former and current officials—aides to President Donald Trump have been "genuinely horrified" by his calls with foreign leaders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Friday night that the concerns of White House officials are meaningless without accompanying action.
"With respect to the betrayal of our country, it doesn't matter much how these aides felt," the New York Democrat said. "History will judge them by what they did. And the answer is nothing."
With respect to the betrayal of our country, it doesn’t matter much how these aides felt.
History will judge them by what they did.
And the answer is nothing. https://t.co/j5fJUXhMbk
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 5, 2019
Trump's phone call with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, during which the U.S. president pushed for an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, has sparked national outrage and an impeachment inquiry by House Democrats.
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But, according to the Post, Trump's conversation with Zelensky was no outlier.
"Starting long before revelations about Trump's interactions with Ukraine's president rocked Washington, Trump's phone calls with foreign leaders were an anxiety-ridden set of events for his aides and members of the administration," the Post reported Friday night. "They worried that Trump would make promises he shouldn’t keep, endorse policies the United States long opposed, commit a diplomatic blunder that jeopardized a critical alliance, or simply pressure a counterpart for a personal favor."
One anonymous former security official told the Post that Trump was only "nice" to "people who could do things for him."
"Leaders with trade deficits, strong female leaders, members of NATO—those tended to go badly," the former official said.
According to the Post, "Trump's personal goals seeped into calls" with foreign leaders.
"He pestered Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for help in recommending him for a Nobel Prize," the Post reported, citing an official familiar with the phone call.
In response to the Post story, Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, tweeted, "From the staffers hiding records of his calls to the Senators pretending he's fit for any office, so many are complicit in covering for the lunatic."
