Trump ‘forgot he was president’ in CIA speech: Panetta
Former CIA Director and Secretary of State Leon Panetta has voiced concerns about Donald Trump’s recent remarks at the CIA, suggesting that Trump forgot he was president of the United States.
"I think to go off and start talking about the press, talking about how many people were at the inauguration, I just think that frankly that was not appropriate," Panetta said in an interview with CNN on Monday.
"I just think that the president needs to understand that he is president of the United States now. He's not just a candidate. He doesn't have to spend time embellishing himself or what he did," he added.
After a presidential campaign that saw a big rift emerge between Trump and the intelligence community, the president visited the CIA headquarters on Saturday to smooth out any differences.
During his speech in front of a memorial wall dedicated to fallen CIA officers, President Trump pledged support for the intelligence agency, but mostly he talked about himself, his inauguration turnout and the “dishonest” media.
“As you know I have a running war with the media,” Trump said. “They are among the most dishonest human beings on earth. And they sort of made it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence community.”
"I just got the impression when he was speaking there that somehow he forgot that he was president of the United States," Panetta said. "That was not the appropriate place to start whining about what was happening in terms of numbers at the inauguration and what have you."
Panetta said he shared some of the concerns expressed by the most recent CIA director, John Brennan.
Brennan, who left the agency last week, said Saturday that the president "should be ashamed of himself" for his remarks, adding that he was "deeply saddened and angered at Trump's despicable display of self-aggrandizement."
Trump has been accused of undermining the intelligence community by questioning its findings in regard to alleged Russian intervention in the November election and likening the analysis to the false intelligence that led to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
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