During a dinner with military leaders tonight, President Trump gave an ominous warning seemingly out of the blue: “You guys know what this represents? Maybe it’s the calm before the storm,” he said: “It could be the calm… before… the storm.”

A reporter quickly asked what the storm might be –“Is it Iran, ISIS, what’s the storm?” to which he replied… “…you’ll find out.”

The warning took place during a photo-call on occasion of a dinner hosted for US military leaders and their wives, with Donald and Melania attending. Mid-way through photos, the President said to reporters: “You know what this represents? Maybe it’s the calm before the storm” an ominous, loaded phrase considering the context and the present company.

Pressed for details, the President replied: “We have the world’s great military leader in this room […] you’ll see”.

As the following clip shows, it is hard to know if this bluster from the President to impress his audience, or a concerning sign of things to come…

TRUMP: "Maybe it's the calm before the storm."

…

REPORTER: "What storm Mr. President?"

TRUMP: "You'll find out." (via Satellite News) pic.twitter.com/bWMzGrDPNa — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 5, 2017



Politico, which described the comments as cryptic and unprompted, was similarly clueless: “It was unclear what topics were discussed or what “storm” the president could be alluding to. But the White House summit with top national security officials comes as Trump weighs whether to decertify the Iran nuclear deal, a move that would hinder one of former President Barack Obama’s key diplomatic achievements.”

The full transcript, courtesy of a White House correspondent, was the following: