Featured Image Credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics, Social Media, Twitter
Madison Burgess
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics, Social Media, Twitter
A wild claim has emerged that Donald Trump tried to access America's 'nuclear codes' but was stopped by one of his military generals.
Former CIA analyst Larry Johnson made the shocking allegation on the Judging Freedom podcast hosted by former Fox News analyst Andrew Napolitano on Tuesday (21 April).
He claimed that the US president, 79, wanted nuclear codes against Iran during an 'emergency' White House meeting; however, he was apparently stopped by General Dan Caine, who is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
During the podcast appearance, Johnson said: "One report coming out of that meeting at the White House is that Trump wanted to use the nuclear codes, and General Dan Caine stood up and said ‘No’.
Advert
"He invoked his privilege as the head of the military, so to speak. It was apparently quite a blow-up. There are some very bizarre things going on in DC."
As reported by France 24, CNN said that Johnson allegedly showed footage of Caine 'storming out' of the building on the podcast.
The claim quickly went viral and made its way into a slew of different news outlets and onto social media.
Reacting on social media, one X user wrote: "This is genuinely grounds for immediate impeachment/removal of office, like why are we acting like this is normal?"
However, the situation hadn't been confirmed, and it was unclear what exactly the nuclear codes would have been used for if they were accessed.
Now, it's been revealed that fact-checkers have found no verified reports of the alleged meeting or intervention, and they concluded that something of magnitude would have been widely reported if it had actually occurred.
A fact check by Lead Stories found that, while Johnson said on the podcast that there was a report of this incident, he later clarified in his blog that there is 'no confirmation that the report is verified'.
The former CIA analyst said: "I have no confirmation that the report is verified, but my comment went viral."
France 24 also pointed out that the idea of Trump being 'blocked' by Caine goes against the reality of the command chain - technically, nobody can overrule the president's command, so this would be unlikely anyway.
Meanwhile, a White House spokesperson told Newsweek the claim was false.
Arguing against the claims on X, one user wrote: "On this, there seems to be no credible verified source aside from speculation,"
Another said: "Larry Johnson’s last job was in the 80s. This is so ridiculous. Like he has any access to any relevant information."
A third penned: "He's a former analyst. He has no idea what he is talking about. He was an analyst for four years, and that was in the early 90's. Try and keep up."
Tyla has contacted the White House for comment.