The neocons and members of the military-industrial complex are not happy at the thought of losing Russia as their biggest global bogeyman.
Former CIA director John Brennan has blasted the conference with President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Monday as “nothing short of treasonous.”
“Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin” he said.
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Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of “high crimes & misdemeanors.” It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???
— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) July 16, 2018
Brennan also called for the resignations of Pompeo, Kelly and Bolton over what he described as ‘one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory’
Frmr CIA Director John Brennan calls on Pompeo, Kelly and Bolton to resign over Trump’s behavior at presser with Putin. pic.twitter.com/C2WytIEmvN
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) July 16, 2018
The Mail Online reports: other Republicans also joined the criticism, with Paul Ryan saying: ‘Russia is not our ally.’
And Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, tweeted: ‘What do the Russians have on @realDonaldTrump personally, financially, & politically?’
Brennan has been one of the president’s harshest critics. And he was CIA chief during the 2016 election when the Obama administration was said to have known Russia was trying to interfere in the presidential contest.
He has not held back in the harsh language he uses to describe the president.
In June op-ed he wrote for The Washington Post, Brennan called Trump a ‘snake-oil salesman’ who has shown ‘mean-spirited, malicious, and highly abnormal behavior.’
Trump fired back. He attacked Brennan on Twitter after the op-ed appeared, quoting a former Secret Service agent who appeared on ‘Fox & Friends’ and called Brennan a liar.
In March, after FBI agent Andrew McCabe was fired, Brennan tweeted to Trump: ‘When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but will not destroy America… America will triumph over you.’
On Monday, the former CIA chief was expressing his fury that the president declined to back the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
Putin denied Russia had any role in the election.
Trump was asked if he believed his Russian counterpart or his intelligence chiefs. ‘I don’t see any reason why it would be’ Russia, the president said.
‘I have great confidence in my intelligence people,’ he added, ‘but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. And what he did is an incredible offer. He offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people. I think that’s an incredible offer.’
Brennan wasn’t the only former intelligence official to express disbelief at Trump’s statement.
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who served during the Obama administration, said the press conference was ‘truly unbelievable.’
‘On the world’s stage, in front of the entire globe, the President of the United States essentially capitulated and seems intimidated by Vladimir Putin. So it was amazing and very, very disturbing,’ Clapper said on CNN Monday afternoon.
