MSNBC contributor and historian Michael Beschloss posted a tweet on Thursday evening recounting historical figures who had been executed for sharing U.S. nuclear secrets with foreign governments, and a former CIA chief shared the post with his own approving tweet.
Conservative commentator Jerry Dunleavy accused Beschloss of "suggesting that Trump should be executed," considering it was posted just after the Washington Post piece speculating that the FBI had raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate to find missing nuclear documents.
The Washington Post exclusive from Thursday afternoon attempted to offer more details as to what the FBI was searching for at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, as Attorney General Merrick Garland remained tight-lipped about it in his address to the nation.
The report cited sources speaking "on the condition of anonymity," claiming, "Classified documents relating to nuclear weapons were among the items FBI agents sought in a search of former president Donald Trump’s Florida residence on Monday, according to people familiar with the investigation."
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The claim sent shock waves through social media and became a top Twitter trend.
Several hours after the claim in the exclusive report, Beschloss provided some historical context as to what happens to those who illegally retain and pass off nuclear information to non-U.S. entities. Tweeting out an image of Soviet spies Julius and Ethel Rosenburg, he wrote, "Rosenbergs were convicted for giving U.S. nuclear secrets to Moscow, and were executed June 1953."
The tweet caught the attention of former director of both the National Security Agency and the CIA, Michael Hayden. Hayden, who is also a retired four-star Air Force general and whose tenure in the intelligence agencies happened under former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, commented on Beschloss’s post.
"Sounds about right," the ex-CIA head tweeted.
Washington Examiner reporter Jerry Dunleavy slammed Hayden’s comment and accused the retired general and former NSA director of "suggesting that Trump should be executed."
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Dunleavy wrote, "NBD [no big deal] just a former NSA & CIA Director (who also was among the dozens of ex-intel officials who signed the infamous October 2020 Hunter Biden laptop letter) out here suggesting that Trump should be executed."
The "Hunter Biden laptop letter" was a document signed by "over 50 former U.S. intelligence officials" asserting that the laptop allegedly containing dirty secrets about the private life and business dealings of the then-presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son, was Russian "disinformation."
Though it has since been confirmed that the laptop and its content regarding Hunter Biden are real.
