This seems like a pretty dangerous line for him to adopt. Because how confident they were in the intel can always be fudged, but whether he was informed is straightforward. What’s the follow-up excuse then? “Oh, I forgot, I was distracted by my meeting with Diamond & Silk”? https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1278284552679624705

What I mean is: There are plenty of excuses his base might buy for inaction: “The intel wasn’t 100%, we didn’t want to rush a response if it turned out to be wrong.” But it’s hard to see any good excuse for *not having been aware* once it’s established he was told.

You have lots of room to fudge on “how sure were they?” because very few things in intelligence are 100%. But “was he told?” is a clear yes/no, and something that can be definitively established. And assuming the answer is “yes,” that statement doesn’t leave any outs.

What can you say that isn’t an admission of gross unfitness once you’ve doubled down on not having known? “Oh, I forgot, it didn’t seem important”? “I wasn’t paying attention”?