Thread by @mollymotoole

President Trump’s role in inciting a deadly siege on the Capitol has given new urgency to a question that has been building throughout his presidency: Is he a security threat to the very country he was elected to lead? w/ @Noahbierman lat.ms/35rMcqx @latimes (Thread)

@Noahbierman @latimes Of 15 current & former national security officials contacted after the Capitol breach, including Trump Cabinet members, WH NSC leadership, agency heads, and DHS and State staffers. @latimes interviewed 10, & 2 requested anonymity, citing professional or legal concerns. 1/

“What would this president do over the next days if it happens again — if a domestic or foreign enemy attacks any element of this country? I don’t get the impression he would do a damn thing, and I find that to be alarming.” -Tom Bossert, former Trump homeland security advisor 2/

“I certainly was not surprised at what he said — that’s him. I am surprised that American citizens took that to mean we can go to the Capitol and kick in doors and urinate on the House floor.” -John Kelly, ret. 4-star Gen., former Trump chief of staff & 1st Trump DHS secretary 3/

Olivia Troye, VP Pence's homeland security advisor, was working in Washington when shooter in El Paso, her hometown, killed 23 people, targeting Latinos & echoing Trump’s xenophobic rhetoric in a manifesto. Her aunt was inside the Walmart. 4/

After El Paso, Troye said she went to VP chief of staff Marc Short: Again, WH needed to condemn white nationalist extremism, she said. Again, WH refused, & here we are. “I knew [Trump] would turn it into a circus and spectacle, and that’s exactly what he did,” Troye said. 5/

Janet Napolitano, DHS secretary under Obama, was at workshop on climate change & national security Wednesday when her phone started endlessly binging. "I was not as surprised as I should've been ... I think Trump has been building for this kind of moment for months and years" 6/

Michael Chertoff, 2nd DHS secretary, said long-term effect of mob insurrection is fed investigators will have to approach these radical factions of Trump supporters “like they would any other domestic terrorism group” & focus on intelligence gathering to prevent more attacks 7/

“Even though I think the military is a check here, it doesn’t mean he can’t take some steps that could jeopardize our security,” said Leon E. Panetta, a former CIA director, Defense secretary and chief of staff in Democratic administrations 8/

Former NSC condemned Wed violence but defended Trump despite years riling up supporters with misinfo & praising violence-“The word unprecedented is not strong enough” for Trump’s actions but “I never saw behavior like this." Criticism aides should've pushed back-"may be valid" 9/

Trump National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien confirmed hadn't resigned but didn't answer as to security consequences of violence & president's role. After Trump won in 2016, O’Brien (who never endorsed him) told me: “I have no doubt Donald Trump will grow into the office" 10/

Kelly, as other ex-Trump Cabinet & WH, defends tenure by saying kept president from doing even worse. Invoking 25th Amendment should be considered to remove, he says, but urges officials not to resign. “We still have a country that has to function" END