Donald Trump’s top aides slammed after he and Japanese PM are pictured discussing top secret documents about North Korea in a public restaurant
The classified discussion, which should take place behind closed doors, was captured just tables away at Trump's exclusive Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach
DONALD Trump's top aides have been blasted for risking national security after pictures apparently showing the US president and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reacting to a North Korean missile launch emerged.
The classified discussion, which should take place behind closed doors, was captured on camera just tables away by a member of President Trump's exclusive Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida on Saturday.
Richard DeAgazio, a retired investor and club member from Boston, posted the snaps to his now-deleted Facebook page.
They show Trump and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe talking on phones in public after after North Korea's missile test as diners looked on freely.
Other snaps show Trump aides using their mobile's camera light to help Trump and Abe read documents in public.
DeAgazio wrote alongside the photos on Facebook: “HOLY MOLY !!! It was fascinating to watch the flurry of activity at dinner when the news came that North Korea had launched a missile in the direction of Japan.
";The Prime Minister Abe of Japan huddles with his staff and the President is on the phone with Washington DC. the two world leaders then conferred and then went into another room for hastily arranged press conference. Wow…..the centre of the action!!!”
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He also posed for a photo with a man whom he claims carried the "nuclear football" for the president.
DeAgazio, a Trump supporter who joined the club three months ago, told the he couldn't overhear what was being said due to the background noise.
He said: “You don’t hear anything. You can’t hear because of the background music and other diners. I mean, I can barely hear what’s going on at my table.”
Sources who were dining on the patio that evening couldn't say whether the conversations or documents were classified, reported.
The White House said on Monday no classified material was discussed at the dinner table.
But the photos did raise concern about how the Trump administration will handle foreign policy crises on the road.
Nancy Pelosi, the leader of House Democrats, tweeted: “There’s no excuse for letting an international crisis play out in front of a bunch of country club members like dinner theatre.”
Brian Fallon, who was Clinton's campaign spokesman, said: "There's inconsistency all over the place in terms of how much Donald Trump raised national security on the campaign trail and how he is now operating as president."
"And there's hypocrisy from congressional leaders who demagogued this issue, constantly accusing Hillary Clinton of doing something that was far less egregious than this very conspicuous departure from security protocols."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Trump "never should have had such a sensitive discussion in such a public place".
The Mar-a-Lago Club, which Trump has run since 1995, includes tennis and beach facilities for its members and rents its ballroom out for weddings and galas open to nonmembers, reported.
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