Trump moves to mend fences with CIA, but officials hit back

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump told the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) over the weekend it had his full support as he paid a visit to mend fences after publicly rejecting its assessment that Russia tried to help him win the United States election.

“I am with you 1,000 per cent,” Mr Trump said in a short address to CIA staff after his visit to the agency headquarters in Virginia.

In his first full day in office, Mr Trump moved swiftly to confront simmering tensions left by US intelligence findings that Russia interfered in the US election to try to tip the outcome in Mr Trump’s favour.

“I love you, I respect you,” he told members of the US intelligence community. “We’re all on the same wavelength, right?” he asked, referring in particular to the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group.

He added: “We have not used the real abilities that we have. We’ve been restrained. We have to get rid of IS.”

Mr Mike Pompeo, Mr Trump’s pick to lead the CIA, has not yet been confirmed by the US Senate.

A 53-year-old Republican lawmaker, Mr Pompeo is considered a foreign policy hawk and was an ardent opponent of former President Barack Obama’s administration.

Mr Trump’s decision to travel to CIA headquarters so quickly after taking office was seen as an attempt at a fresh start with the intelligence agencies he will now rely on for guidance as he makes weighty national security decisions.

It was not certain whether Mr Trump’s visit did much to repair the morale of an agency that strives to avoid any hints of partisanship and is unnerved by his repeated charges that it was trying to damage him.

In unscripted, stream-of-consciousness remarks, the President appeared more focused on settling scores with the media.

He defensively touted the crowd size for his swearing-in ceremony, claiming that the throngs on the National Mall stretched “all the way back to the Washington Monument”. Photos and video showed the crowd stopping well short of the landmark.

Mr Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, slammed Mr Trump for using his CIA visit to squabble over media coverage.

“He will need to do more than use the agency memorial as a backdrop if he wants to earn the respect of the men and women who provide the best intelligence in the world,” Mr Schiff said.

Former CIA director John Brennan went further. His former aide Nick Shapiro released a statement that said: “Brennan is deeply saddened and angered at Donald Trump’s despicable display of self-aggrandisement in front of CIA’s Memorial Wall of Agency heroes. Brennan says that Trump should be ashamed of himself.”

Mr Brennan had stern words for Mr Trump before his inauguration, saying he needed to be more “disciplined” in his public comments.

“I don’t think he has a full appreciation of Russian capabilities, Russia’s intentions and actions,” Mr ​Brennan had said of Mr Trump.

Mr Trump, likening US intelligence to Nazis, suggested earlier that Mr Brennan himself may have leaked an unsubstantiated report that the Russians had gathered damaging salacious personal information about him.

The intelligence agencies had given both Mr Trump and Mr Obama a summary of the dossier, which was later published in full by American media.

Mr Brennan insisted the US intelligence chiefs considered it their responsibility to make Mr Trump aware that it was in circulation. AGENCIES