Michael J. Morrell, who served as acting director of the CIA over two periods in 2012 and 2013, endorsed Hillary Clinton for president today. In his endorsement, Morrell praises Clinton for being a steady hand in crisis and a leader who can uphold America’s influence abroad (i.e. not abandon the Baltic states to Putin, etc.).
It’s about how Clinton is the anti-Trump, in other words: She’s reliable, predictable, and, for better or worse, will maintain the status quo when it comes to national defense. To prove this, Morrell discusses Clinton’s involvement in the Bin Laden raid, which contains one key anecdote:
I never saw her bring politics into the Situation Room. In fact, I saw the opposite. When some wanted to delay the Bin Laden raid by one day because the White House Correspondents Dinner might be disrupted, she said, “Screw the White House Correspondents Dinner.”
From the perspective of an endorsement, this is the no-bullshit Clinton we see in debates (and at congressional inquiries), but rarely on the stump. But it’s also a crazy anecdote! Who, in the famous Bin Laden picture, wanted to stop the raid so they could hang out with the press and listen to jokes?
Clinton is obviously out, as is President Obama. But that leaves a lot of possibilities. Could it have been Brigadier General Brad Webb? Admiral Mike Mullen? National Security Advisor Tom Donilon? Director of National Intelligence James Clapper? Who are we kidding, it was probably Biden.