Photographer captures secret note to Trump showing author of his rants | US | News
A photographer managed to capture an important message that Secretary of State Marco Rubio secretly conveyed to Donald Trump via a handwritten note during a roundtable discussion on Wednesday.
When the president met with a group of conservative influencers at the White House to discuss Antifa, Rubio, who was in the back corner of the Blue Room, managed to catch his attention. The Secretary of State signaled that he had important news for Trump, but emphasized that he should wait until the media left.
The influencer meeting was already over an hour old when Rubio made his first move. The president motioned him forward, and Rubio quietly relayed something to Trump before handing over a handwritten note. The news came when Trump sent a new threat to “people with whom he had dinner”, warning ‘Antifa elites’.
An AP photographer who was at the meeting zoomed in on the handwriting scrawled on White House stationery. It read: “Need to approve a Truth Social post soon so we can announce the deal first.”
The president is known for launching sweeping tirades on the Truth Social platform, often voicing his anger at his enemies in all caps at any time of the day or night. However, Rubio’s memo to him implies that Trump did not create all of his social media posts but approved them. Mirror USA.
The president’s team had apparently drafted a mission for him to be the first to announce that Israel and Hamas had agreed on the first phase of the Gaza peace agreement.
“The Secretary of State gave me a note saying we’re very close to a deal on the Middle East and they’re going to need me pretty quickly,” Trump said. “Then we’ll take a few more questions.”
Despite receiving messages from Rubio, Trump continued to reach out to influencers and answer questions from the media, while the secretary of state appeared increasingly impatient.
About 10 minutes after his initial comments about the departure, Trump said: “I have to go now to try and resolve some issues in the Middle East – although I’m very well represented by our secretary of state. He could probably do a better job than me, but who knows.”
“We don’t want to leave anything to chance. So we’re going to go ahead and do it,” Trump continued. He then suggested that Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stay behind and ask questions in his absence.
But Trump continued to answer questions until the meeting ended with no Cabinet members left. Trump said, “We will ensure peace in the Middle East.”
“That’s what we want to do.”
At 6:51 p.m., nearly two hours after Rubio first delivered the message to Trump, the president returned to the social media platform to make the announcement.
In his post on Truth Social, Trump said, “I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have signed the first Phase of our Peace Plan,” adding that all hostages will be released “very soon” and that Israel will withdraw its troops “to an agreed-upon line.”
Trump continued: “This is a BIG day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding nations, and the United States of America, and we thank the mediators in Qatar, Egypt, and Türkiye who worked with us to make this Historic and Unprecedented Event happen. HAPPY PEACEMAKERS!”
The urgency of the announcement was demonstrated as Trump’s top Middle East adviser Steve Witkoff, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and other senior officials attended ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas for a third consecutive day at an Egyptian resort on Wednesday.
Trump had kicked off the influencer event by telling assembled reporters that he planned to travel to the Middle East “later into the week” and might even “make jaunts” across the region to Egypt and possibly the Gaza Strip as U.S. negotiators neared a deal.
