A White House official slammed Donald Trump's strikes on Iran as 'pointless' and only serving the 'deep state' - but quickly backtracked by deleting the posts and making his account private. Andrew Kloster's comments came to light as Trump continued his tirade against negative coverage of the strikes on Iran's nuclear sites with an all-caps post to Truth Social defending them.
Kloster (pictured) - the general counsel for the Office of Personnel Management - slammed the U.S. as giving 'handouts' to Israel and said fears of Iran getting a nuclear weapon were far-fetched. An X user posted that 'Iran's nuclear sites being crushed seems a long-term benefit for the US.' Kloster responded from his now locked account: 'I just think it was kind of pointless.'
The White House official also retweeted Vish Burra, the former spokesperson for George Santos, who wrote: 'Can we please ignore this god-forsaken region of Earth and their tribal squabbles?' Kloster eventually deleted the posts, including one writing: 'I apologize and will never again doubt the power of the deep state.' The friendly fire came as the White House went on defense amid growing distress among MAGA over the effect of the strikes.
Trump went on a late night, all-caps rant against the 'failing' New York Times and CNN over what he called their 'fake' coverage of the impact of the Iran bombing. The president made the post to his Truth Social account from the Netherlands, where he is attending a NATO summit, at what would have been near 4am local time.
'FAKE NEWS CNN, TOGETHER WITH THE FAILING NEW YORK TIMES, HAVE TEAMED UP IN AN ATTEMPT TO DEMEAN ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY,' he wrote. 'THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED! BOTH THE TIMES AND CNN ARE GETTING SLAMMED BY THE PUBLIC!'
Both CNN and the Times reported leaked intelligence on Tuesday that said the weekend strikes against nuclear facilities in Tehran only set back Iran's nuclear program a couple months. The White House called the report 'flat-out wrong' as Trump continued to claim the strikes 'completely and totally obliterated' Iran's nuclear enrichment sites.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the assessment published in CNN as a 'clear attempt to demean President Trump'. 'Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration,' Leavitt said. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed the US military strike on Iran 's nuclear facilities 'buried them under a mountain of rubble,' as the White House defends a leaked report claiming Donald Trump 's attack did little damage.
'Our massive bombs hit exactly the right spot at each target and worked perfectly. The impact of those bombs is buried under a mountain of rubble in Iran,' Hegseth said. 'So anyone who says the bombs were not devastating is just trying to undermine the President and the successful mission.'
Trump also faced calls for his impeachment on a sole charge of abuse of power over his launch of military strikes on Iran without first seeking authorization from Congress - but the House today overwhelmingly voted to block the resolution. It's not the first time Kloster has set off controversy, as the liberal Project on Government Oversight claimed he called himself 'a raging misogynist.'
He did tweet in 2023: 'I'm 100% women respecter precisely because I'm a raging misogynist. I'm so kind you'll want to kill yourself and die, which is the goal.' Kloster has also made comments regarding consent - calling it 'probably modern society's most pernicious fetish' - and race - joking that 'Slaves owe us reparations.' The New York Post reported that Kloster is believed to be an ally of Sergio Gor, the head of the Presidential Personnel Office who was said to be against Elon Musk. DailyMail.com reached out to the Office of Personnel and Management for comment. A White House spokesperson declined to comment.