Center on National Security Distinguished Fellow John Brennan, former CIA director, was quoted in a CNN piece about his concern over President Donald Trump’s handling of recent U.S. military deaths in Niger.
“Mr. Trump has his own ways of dealing with things that I see as inconsistent with what some of his predecessors have done and how they’ve treated it,” Brennan said. “I’m not going to dignify in any way some of the comments that have been made, which I think does not underscore the importance, the significance the sacrifice of these individuals.”
…
Brennan compared Trump’s handling of the Niger attack to when the President spoke in front of the CIA’s memorial wall honoring agency employees killed in service of the US just days after he had been sworn into office and touted the crowd size at his inauguration, which Brennan also took issue with.
“When Mr. Trump was at CIA’s headquarters lobby, two days after inauguration in front of the memorial wall where the 117 stars, many of those stars represent individuals I knew personally and well,” Brennan said, “we treat it — always treated that wall with great respect and to honor their legacy — and when there were comments made of a political nature that I thought just were just disrespectful, I spoke out.”