‘He believed it probably could have been’: Esper says Trump had no intelligence on threat to four embassies

“‘Probably’ and ‘could have been.’ That sounds more like an assessment than a specific, tangible threat with a decisive piece of intelligence,” pressed Brennan.

“Well, the president didn’t say there was. He didn’t cite a specific piece of evidence,” replied Esper.

“Are you saying there wasn’t one?” asked Brennan

“I didn’t see one, with regard to four embassies,” Esper said.

Trump initially claimed that Soleimani had planned to “blow up” the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad but later said the general planned to attack multiple embassies, leading reporters and analysts to question the veracity of the new information.

“Soleimani was actively planning new attacks, and he was looking very seriously at our embassies, and not just the embassy in Baghdad,” Trump told reporters on Friday. “I can reveal that I believe it would have been four embassies.”

Esper was further pressed on the matter by CNN’s Jake Tapper during Sunday’s State of the Union. He repeatedly dodged the question of whether there was specific evidence of an “imminent” attack on four U.S. embassies, saying, “I’m not going to discuss the intelligence.” Esper went on to say the president’s claim is what Trump “believes” and that he agrees with his assessment.

“What the president said with regard to the four embassies is what I believe as well,” he said.

Esper’s remarks suggest that Trump may have exaggerated his claims in an effort to defend airstrikes that left Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al Muhandis dead.