CIA Director John Brennan on Sunday pushed back on claims made by Donald Trump that the officials who gave him an intelligence briefing appeared unhappy with President Obama.
“I know the briefers that have been briefing the candidates. They are the quintessential professional intelligence officers. They do their work very well. And they know, as professionals, that they are to deliver substance,” Brennan said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” when asked about Trump’s comments.
“We don’t comment on policy. We don’t give policy recommendations,” Brennan added. “So I am fully confident that they comported themselves with the utmost professionalism and demonstrated their real breadth and depth of intelligence capabilities.”
During last week’s presidential town hall on national security, Trump said that at the security briefing he receives as a presidential nominee, the briefers did not appear to approve of Obama and that the President did not follow their advice.
“What I did learn is that our leadership, Barack Obama, did not follow what our experts and our truly — when they call it intelligence, it’s there for a reason, what our experts said to do,” Trump said.
“In almost every instance, and I could tell, I’m pretty good with the body language, I could tell. They were not happy. Our leaders did not follow what they were recommending,” he added.
