President Donald Trump admitted he isn’t sure why some of his top advisors are living on military bases, saying, “I’m not sure that… ah, they need to.”
During an interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday, one day after a suspected gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, Trump was asked if he felt there was any connection between the growing political violence in the U.S. and the fact that many of his staff live in secure military bases.
A handful of Trump’s top advisors and Cabinet members live in Washington, D.C.-area military housing, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
Recently fired Attorney General Pam Bondi was reportedly moved into a military base in March after she received threats over her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. Ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is also still living in the waterfront military home she was moved to after receiving threats, despite being fired by Trump.
“Well, they choose to,” Trump told correspondent Norah O’Donnell. “I’m not sure that…ah, they need to. They have nice places, you know?”
Trump continued: “Democrats did the same thing. Some of the housing on military bases is very nice. I’m not sure they do it necessarily for violence, but probably…it’s not the worst thing in the world.”
“Look, they’re— they’re doing— we are consequential. This is a consequential presidency. I have a great Cabinet, and they do things that are very good, but some people— you know, they’re good for us. They’re not good for other people,” the president added.
Trump, 79, diverted the conversation to Iran, saying they were “crazy” as “they’re not gonna have a nuclear weapon.”
“They’re not gonna blow up the world. And therefore they’re not happy. And when they’re not happy, people do things that are violent,” he said.
Trump continued: “Now, I’m not tracing anything back to them, but certainly if they had a shot, they’d probably take it. So when you’re a consequential president or if you have a consequential administration, things happen that wouldn’t happen if you’re Sleepy Joe Biden.”
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
At least a handful of Trump’s top advisors currently or once lived in military housing due to security threats.
Noem, who was fired in March following a string of high-profile controversies at DHS, was recently seen coming and going from the waterfront home typically saved for Coast Guard officials.
The embattled former cabinet member moved onto the military base after protesters and paparazzi discovered the address of her private residences while she oversaw the Trump administration’s aggressive anti-immigration crackdown.
It was not immediately clear why Noem was still living at the military base. Coast Guard commandant Admiral Kevin Lunday currently lives in the home next door to Noem’s and plans to move into the house she is occupying “imminently,” Lunday told associates, the Wall Street Journal reports.
It was not clear whether Bondi, who was moved into a heavily guarded military base in March, remained in the home after her firing.
Meanwhile, Rubio and Miller moved into “Generals Row” in Fort McNair sometime last fall, joining Hegseth, who had already been living on the secure military base.
White House and administration officials have previously cited security concerns as reasons for the arrangements.
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