CIA Director Contradicts Trump, ‘Stands By’ Russian Interference Assessment

CIA Director-designate Rep. Michael Pompeo, R-Kan. is sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2017, prior to testifying at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee. (AP Pho... CIA Director-designate Rep. Michael Pompeo, R-Kan. is sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2017, prior to testifying at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) MORE LESS
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After President Donald Trump again cast doubt on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election on Saturday, Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo issued a statement contradicting the commander-in-chief’s remarks.

“The Director stands by and has always stood by the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment entitled: Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections,” a CIA spokesperson told CNN. “The intelligence assessment with regard to Russian election meddling has not changed.”

Trump suggested that the assessment was not so definitive, telling reporters accompanying him to an economic summit in Vietnam that Russian President Vladimir Putin said “he absolutely did not meddle in our election.”

“Every time he sees me, he said: ‘I didn’t do that.’ And I believe, I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it,” Trump said after holding brief meetings with Putin on the sidelines of the summit.

The President also lashed at the leaders of U.S. intelligence agencies, as he has in the past. Trump dismissed the former heads of those agencies, which concluded that Russia intervened in the presidential race to swing it in his favor, as “political hacks.”

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Notable Replies

  1. “Keep in mind, Mikey, we know everything about you, too. It would be a shame if some of it leaked. Now release the statement.”

  2. Face it ,beyond his feckless enablers, business parners in criminal activity, the cowardly republican Congress and his limp minded minions,EVERYBODY contradicts Trump.

  3. Good on you, Pompeo. The agents and analysts and other staff need to know that you will not just stand aside and let Trumpp shit on them.

    The career professionals in the agency know what a dishonorable person Trumpp is. They remember this:

    “I am so behind you,“ Trump said, adding, “You’re gonna get so much backing. Maybe you’re gonna say, please, don’t give us so much backing, Mr. President, please, we don’t need that much backing."

    …“Probably almost everybody in this room voted for me,” he claimed at one point. "But I will not ask you to raise your hands.”

    “I can only say that I am with you 1,000 percent. And the reason you’re my first stop —” Trump said before dramatically changing direction, “— is that as you know I have a running war with the media. They are among the most dishonest human beings on earth. Right? And they sort of made it sound like I have this feud with the intelligence community.”

    The feud was not the media’s creation. Trump had compared the intelligence community’s leaks about him to “Nazi Germany” on Twitter, and then repeated that charge in a news conference 10 days ago. He also used so-called scare quotes to cite the “intelligence” agencies on Twitter.

  4. I bet if we were to retweet the Donald’s word but attribute them to Hillary, his supporters would be outraged and yell “lock her up!”

    Instead, we’ll hear how the Donald is making America great again.

  5. What a pathetic circus this presidency is turning into. Our insane clown President says something that everyone knows is dangerous, almost treasonous nonsense, and his hand-picked CIA director contradicts him the very next day. Why the hell aren’t the people in government invoking the 25th Amendment? The President of the United States is mentally ill. Very seriously mentally ill.

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