CIA chief takes aim at Trump
WASHINGTON — Adding another chapter to the intense conflict between Donald Trump and the intelligence community, CIA Director John Brennan on Sunday sharply criticized the incoming president for equating spy agencies to Nazi Germany and suggested that he needed to focus more seriously on the security issues facing the nation.
“What I think Mr. Trump has to understand is that this is more than being about him, and it’s about the United States and our national security,” Brennan said in an interview with “Fox News Sunday.”
“And he has to make sure that now he’s going to have the opportunity to do something for national security, as opposed to talking and tweeting; he’s going to have tremendous responsibility to make sure that U.S. national security interests are protected and are advanced.”
That was particularly the case when it comes to Russia, Brennan said.
“I don’t think he has a full appreciation of Russian capabilities, Russia’s intentions and actions that they are undertaking in many parts of the world,” he said.
Also worrisome, he said, were Trump’s hints in recent interviews that he might lift sanctions against Russia imposed last month after their election interference was made clear in a report to President Obama.
“I think he has to be mindful that he does not yet have a full appreciation and understanding of what the implications are of going down that road, as well as making sure he understands what he’s doing,” Brennan said.
The feud between Trump and the agencies on which he will soon depend has escalated in recent weeks.
Trump angered the intelligence community by publicly disputing their early conclusions that Russia was behind hacking and other activities meant to torpedo his presidential rival, Hillary Clinton. Then, just over a week ago, word leaked of intelligence chiefs alerting Trump and Obama that Russia allegedly had compiled salacious material about Trump.
In a news conference last week, Trump conceded that Russia probably had conducted the hacking. But he called the release of derogatory information about him “a disgrace . something that Nazi Germany would have done and did do.”
Brennan said it was “outrageous” that Trump was “equating the intelligence community with Nazi Germany.”
“I do take great umbrage at that, and there is no basis for Mr. Trump to point fingers at the intelligence community for leaking information that was already available publicly,” he said.