TRUMP: I CIA
Prez downplays feud during visit to agency
PRESIDENT TRUMP, in a Saturday visit to CIA headquarters, promised his full support for the intelligence agency while insisting reports of his feud with the agency were bogus.
“There is nobody who cares more about the CIA, nobody,” Trump declared to cheers from about 400 employees. “... I want you to know I am so behind you. You’re going to get so much backing that maybe you’re going to say, ‘Mr. President, we don’t need that much backing.’ But you’re going to have that.”
The trip to Langley, Va., was the new President’s first official order of business after his Friday inauguration and a Saturday morning prayer service.
He was introduced by Vice President Pence, but was soon delivering a meandering address where he attacked the media and insisted the attendance at his inauguration was undercounted.
Trump claimed as many as 1.5 million people attended his inauguration rather than the widely reported estimate of 250,000. Ignoring photos and video to the contrary, he also claimed the National Mall audience stretched as far as the Washington monument.
In another non sequitur, Trump declared to the nation’s top spies that he was a bright guy despite those who might claim otherwise.
“And then they say, ‘Is Donald Trump an intellectual?’” Trump said. “Trust me, I’m like a smart person.”
His remarks came against a backdrop of the CIA wall of honor, remembering agents who died in service of their country.The new President said even the timing of his visit was a response to stories from his favorite target: “The dishonest media.”
“The reason you are my first stop (is) my running war with the media, among the most dishonest people on the face of the Earth, right?” he said. “And they sort of made it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence committee, and the reason this is the No. 1 stop is it’s the exact opposite.”
The President bumped heads with U.S. intelligence agencies over their conclusions that Russia tried to swing last year’s presidential election in his favor.
The New York Times has reported that the CIA is one of several agencies looking at intercepted communications and financial dealings between Russia and Trump associates.
Trump (inset) had also suggested that departing CIA head John Brennan was a “leaker of fake news.”
Brennan later came out swinging against the President and his choice of venue — the CIA Memorial Wall — for the tongue-lashing.
“Former CIA Dir Brennan is deeply saddened and angered at Trump’s despicable display of self-aggrandizement,” former CIA spokesman Nick Shapiro said on behalf of Brennan. “Brennan says that Trump should be ashamed of himself.”
Trump also reiterated that eliminating Islamic State terrorists is one of his top priorities. “We have to get rid of ISIS — no choice,” Trump declared. “Radical Islamic terrorism has to be eradicated off the face of the Earth . ... This is a level of evil we’ve never seen. We’re going to end it. It’s time, it’s time right now to end it.”