# Post x_864452996129853400

- Post ID: `x_864452996129853400`
- Platform: X (Twitter)
- Posted: 2017-05-16T16:10:29.000Z (UTC)
- Deleted: no
- Repost: no
- Canonical URL: https://trump.fm/post/x_864452996129853400
- Analysis page: https://trump.fm/post/x_864452996129853400/analysis
- Audio narration: https://static.trump.fm/audio/x_864452996129853400.mp3 (a synthesized voice reading the post text, not a recording)

## Post text

> I have been asking Director Comey &amp, others, from the beginning of my administration, to find the LEAKERS in the intelligence community.....

## Engagement

- Likes: 0
- Reposts: 15,925
- Replies: 0
- Views: unknown
- Metrics collected: 2026-02-01T01:33:25.018Z (UTC)

# Analysis

_Machine-generated by trump.fm on 2026-03-11T12:53:09.047Z (UTC): a model's reading of this post, not his words. Its psychological terms describe the language, not a clinical assessment of him._

## Summary

This post demonstrates classic narcissistic deflection under acute threat. Facing simultaneous exposure from the Washington Post (classified intel shared with Russians) and NYT (Comey memo on Flynn), Trump redirects to intelligence community leakers as the real problem. The projection is striking: he accuses others of unauthorized disclosure while he himself had just shared highly classified information with Russian officials in the Oval Office. The reference to "Director Comey" — fired eight days earlier — implicitly blames Comey for failing to stop leaks, serving as retroactive justification for the firing. The paranoid preoccupation with leakers reflects a persistent schema: the world is populated by disloyal actors who must be identified and punished. The ALL CAPS "LEAKERS" marks them as enemies deserving of audience outrage. This post is part of a broader pattern where exposure triggers not self-reflection but externalization — the fault lies not in the conduct but in its revelation.

## Psychological Analysis: "Find the LEAKERS" Post (May 16, 2017)

This post is part of a multi-tweet thread responding to the explosive Washington Post report that Trump shared classified intelligence with Russian officials, and the NYT report on the Comey memo documenting Trump's request to drop the Flynn investigation. Rather than addressing the substance of either report, Trump pivots to attacking leakers — a textbook deflection.

### Context & Timing
Posted at 12:10 PM EDT (Trump was in Washington, DC). This is a business-hours post but reads as authentically Trump — the ALL CAPS "LEAKERS," the trailing ellipsis indicating a thread, and the defensive pivot are characteristic. The reference to "Director Comey" is notable since Trump had fired Comey eight days earlier, suggesting either a temporal slip or deliberate framing to imply Comey failed in this duty.

### Key Psychological Dynamics
The post exemplifies **externalization as defense**: when facing accusations of sharing classified information inappropriately, Trump reframes the problem as unauthorized disclosure by intelligence community members. The issue is not what was shared but who told the press. This is a consistent pattern — attacking the messenger rather than addressing the message.

The emphasis on "from the beginning of my administration" serves dual purposes: establishing that leaks have been a persistent problem (not triggered by current crisis) and implicitly blaming the intelligence community for disloyalty.

### Paranoid Features
The preoccupation with leakers is consistent with paranoid cognitive style — a hostile world populated by disloyal actors requiring surveillance and punishment. The intelligence community is cast as an adversarial force rather than a subordinate apparatus.

## Fact Verification

| Claim | Verdict | Evidence |
|-------|---------|----------|
| "Trump asked Comey and others to find leakers from the beginning of his administration" | **Unverifiable** | No public record confirms or denies private requests to find leakers at the start of the administration. Comey's contemporaneous memos document other requests but not specifically this one in the claimed timeframe. |

Overall Veracity: 50%

## Authorship Analysis

**Uncertain** (score: 70%)

### Indicators

- ALL CAPS emphasis on LEAKERS
- trailing ellipsis thread style
- defensive/reactive content matching known Trump patterns
- business hours posting
- grammatically correct but emotionally charged

## Psychological Profile

### State

**Vulnerable State**

**Trigger:** Narcissistic Injury — Exposure (Washington Post/NYT reports on classified intel sharing and Comey memo)

**Rage:** Intensity 60% targeting Intelligence community leakers
- Proportionality: 30%

Sentiment: -0.50

### Clinical

**Malignant Narcissism:**
- Narcissistic: 50%
- Antisocial: 40%
- Paranoid: 70%
- Sadism: 20%

**Defense Mechanisms:**
- projection (immature)
- displacement (neurotic)

**Cognitive Complexity:**
- Complexity: 40%

**Parasocial Techniques:**
- framing self as victim of disloyal subordinates
- implying audience should share outrage at leakers

## Danger Assessment

**NONE**

### Gaslighting

- Reframes the scandal from his own unauthorized disclosure to others' unauthorized disclosure
- Implies the real wrongdoing is leaking, not the underlying conduct

## Fact Checks (1)

_The model's verdicts from 2026-03-11._

> Trump asked Comey and others to find leakers from the beginning of his administration

**UNVERIFIABLE**

No public record confirms or denies private requests to find leakers at the start of the administration. Comey's contemporaneous memos document other requests but not specifically this one in the claimed timeframe.

Sources: Comey memos; Congressional testimony June 2017

Overall Veracity: 50%

## Tags

- deflection (90%)
- projection (80%)
- paranoid_features (70%)
- leakers (90%)
- comey_firing (60%)

## That day

_From trump.fm's machine-generated digest of the day, not his words._

**Twin Scandals Collide: Trump Confirms Intel Sharing While Deflecting to Leakers**

Trump spent the morning in damage-control mode, responding to back-to-back bombshell reports about sharing classified intelligence with Russian officials and the Comey memo documenting a request to drop the Flynn investigation. His defense of the Russia meeting inadvertently confirmed the story his own national security advisor was publicly denying, asserting he had the "absolute right" to share whatever he wanted. He then pivoted sharply to attacking intelligence community leakers in all-caps, projecting his own disclosure problem onto others. The afternoon brought a return to routine with an economic stat and a photo-op welcoming Turkey's president to the White House.

Full digest for 2017-05-16: https://trump.fm/date/2017-05-16/analysis

## Citation

- APA: Trump, D. J. (2017, May 16). I have been asking Director Comey &amp, others,... [Social media post]. X (Twitter). trump.fm. https://trump.fm/post/x_864452996129853400
- MLA: Trump, Donald J. "I have been asking Director Comey &amp, others, from the..." X (Twitter), 16 May. 2017. trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/x_864452996129853400. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.
- Chicago: Donald J. Trump, "I have been asking Director Comey &amp, others, from the...," X (Twitter), May 16, 2017, archived at trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/x_864452996129853400.

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