Mar-a-Lago planning pics raising security concerns
WASHINGTON — Photos snapped at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida showing him engaged in what appeared to be an international security meeting over dinner — in full view of members of a swanky exclusive club on the property — only added to the list of problems for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn before his resignation last night.
Richard DeAgazio, a 72-yearold Boston-based businessman and part-time actor, captured photos Saturday of Trump, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and several Trump aides reviewing documents on the estate’s candlelit patio dining room by the light of aides’ cellphones — all in full view of the other diners. The photos were taken just as news broke that North Korea conducted its farthest-reaching missile test launch yet.
“HOLY MOLY!!! It was fascinating to watch the flurry of activity at dinner when the news came that North Korea had launched a missile in the direction of Japan,” DeAgazio said in a Facebook post, which included a photo of him with the member of Trump’s security team responsible for carrying the nuclear launch code in a briefcase known as the “football.”
The Facebook post was later made private, then DeAgazio deleted his Facebook account altogether. Efforts by the Herald to reach him were unsuccessful, but he told The Washington Post seeing Trump in action shows “he’s a man of the people.”
But security experts and Democratic leaders laid the blame for the incident with Flynn, who was already under fire for charges that he spoke with Russian officials before Trump was sworn into office.
“This provides further evidence that the Trump national security apparatus has not yet gotten its act together,” said Andrew J. Bacevich, professor emeritus in international relations and history at Boston University.
“As national security adviser, (Flynn) would be the individual primarily responsible for ensuring that national security decisions are made and information disseminated in careful and orderly way,” said Bacevich, a former U.S. Army officer.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi also blamed Flynn in a tweet, one of a number of Democrats that called for him to be ousted in the hours before he resigned: “There’s no excuse for letting an international crisis play out in front of a bunch of country club members like dinner theater. #FireFlynn”
Last night White House spokesman Sean Spicer said that Trump and Abe were discussing logistics about the press briefing they held, and they had been briefed before the dinner.