LANGLEY: US President Donald Trump told CIA officers on Saturday that he has great respect for the agency, denying that he had a feud with the intelligence community.
In his first official visit to a government agency as president, Trump – who had said US intelligence tactics were reminiscent of Nazi Germany – sought to leave no doubt with officers that he supported their work.
“Very, very few people could do the job you people do and I want you to know I am so behind you,” Trump said, to cheers and loud applause.
Ahead of the speech, some analysts said it would take more than a quick visit for Trump, who engaged in an unprecedented feud with the Central Intelligence agency and other US intelligence agencies before his inauguration, to patch up relations with a community he denigrated.
Trump harshly criticised intelligence officials after they concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin directed hackers to breach Democratic emails to try to boost Trump’s presidential election campaign.
Then, after leaks about an unsubstantiated dossier compiled by a private security firm suggesting Moscow had compromising information about him, Trump blamed intelligence agencies for using Nazi-like tactics.
Trump made no mention of Russia during his off-the-cuff remarks, which lasted about 15 minutes.
He said the feud with intelligence agencies was made up by the media, and he called reporters “among the most dishonest human beings on earth.”
Trump also took issue with television shots and still photos of crowds that had gathered for his inauguration on Friday on the National Mall, suggesting that they were misleading and showed fewer people present than actually in attendance.
Former CIA deputy director Michael Morell said Trump’s visit to the CIA would be “an important and positive gesture.”
“The real test of the relationship between the president and his most important intelligence agency, though, will depend on how open he is to what CIA has to say about what is happening in the world,” Morell said before Trump’s speech.
Outgoing CIA director John Brennan had stern words for Trump last Sunday, 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,” Brennan said of Trump on Fox News Sunday.
Trump, likening US intelligence to Nazis, suggested 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 Trump and Obama a summary of the dossier, which later was published in full by BuzzFeed.
Brennan said the US intelligence chiefs considered it their responsibility to make Trump aware that it was in circulation.
