President Donald Trump is showing he “can be played” by Vladimir Putin when he doesn’t acknowledge Russian interference in the 2016 election, a former Central Intelligence Agency director said.
“I think he’s giving Putin a pass,” John Brennan, CIA director under President Barack Obama, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “It demonstrates to Mr. Putin that Donald Trump can be played by foreign leaders who are going to appeal to his ego and to try to play upon his insecurities, which is very, very worrisome from a national-security standpoint.”
James Clapper, former U.S. director of national intelligence, agreed with that assessment and said he thinks “both the Chinese and the Russians think they can play” Trump with flattery.
Brennan and Clapper responded to comments Trump made on his Asia trip. The president on Saturday initially said Putin believed he didn’t interfere in the election and that it’s time for the U.S. to work with Russia on more pressing concerns.
Clapper said the threat Russia poses to the U.S. and its democracy is “manifest and obvious” and that to say otherwise “is astounding and in fact, poses a peril” to the country.
“The Russians do not harbor good intentions toward the United States, and there shouldn’t be any illusions or any ambiguity about that — and our president fosters that ambiguity,” Clapper said.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump called Clapper and Brennan, along with former FBI Director James Comey, “political hacks,” and added that Comey was “proven now to be a liar and he’s proven to be a leaker.”
Brennan responded on CNN by saying, “considering the source of the criticism, I consider that criticism a badge of honor.”
