Obama-era Pentagon official knocks Trump for golfing during Hawaii false alarm

Patrick Granfield, a former Defense Department official under President Obama, attacked President Trump on Twitter after the Hawaii missile attack false alarm. (Fox News / Associated Press)

Hawaii’s botched missile alert Saturday gave a former Obama administration official an opportunity to tee off on President Donald Trump -- even though the false alarm was a state-level gaffe.

“Thank God the President was playing golf,” Patrick Granfield, an ex-strategic communications director at the Pentagon who now lectures at Georgetown University, tweeted just hours after Hawaii's false alarm.

Trump was on the links at the Trump International Golf Course in Florida after the emergency alert was issued at approximately 1:09 p.m., according to pool reports. He left for Mar-a-Lago approximately 30 minutes later.

When another Twitter user said that she wished Granfield had not used the opportunity to take a “dig” at Trump, Granfield doubled down.

“I was thankful that the president was golfing, because that means there was less of a chance that he would have acted rashly and find Americans - and others - real harm,” Granfield, who penned speeches for former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, wrote.

“Also, to your first response, there is both thanks that people were not harmed today and fear that there is great risk in having an individual so intemperate & impulsive in charge of a nuclear arsenal,” he added. “That fear is real and understandable beyond Hawaii or the Korean Peninsula.”

In response to a chorus of negative comments, including one that read, “Your head is so far up you’re a--hole you can lick your back molars,” Granfield deflected.

“I've always had quite a big head so this a challenge,” he wrote. Happy to hear you think I'm up to it.”

Morris Davis, a former chief prosecutor for the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay,  tweeted a similar attack Saturday.

“For 38 minutes American citizens in Hawaii braced for a ballistic missile strike ... and @realDonaldTrump continued his round of golf in Florida on his 120th taxpayer funded vacation day in less than a year,” Morris wrote.