Trump’s deference to Putin floors former intel chiefs

WASHINGTON — Two former intelligence officials on Sunday critiqued President Donald Trump’s mode of dealing with foreign leaders, portraying the president as cowed by Russia’s Vladimir Putin and too susceptible to flattery by rivals likely seeking to manipulate him.

The criticism by former CIA Director John Brennan and former director of national intelligence James Clapper followed months of tension between the White House and the intelligence community over the president’s reluctance to accept intelligence assessments that Russia sought to sway the 2016 election in his favor.

Over the weekend, Trump implied that he took Putin at his word that Russia had not acted to influence the U.S. election. Trump also said that raising the issue was insulting to Putin.

On Sunday in Hanoi, Trump partially walked back those remarks.

“I’m with our agencies, especially as currently constituted” in their assessment, he said. A day earlier, he described the former directors of major intelligence agencies as “political hacks.”

Brennan, on CNN’S “State of the Union,” said the president’s stance was incompatible with established facts.

“It’s very clear that the Russians interfered in the election, and it’s still puzzling as to why Mr. Trump does not acknowledge that and embrace it and also push back hard against Mr. Putin,” Brennan said.