The whole truth about President T’s speech at the CIA

 

Ex-CIA chief Brennan bashes Trump over speech during CIA visit

By Ryan Browne, CNN

Updated 7:51 PM ET, Sat January 21, 2017

 

 

 

Washington (CNN)Former CIA Director John Brennan is "deeply saddened and angered" at President Donald Trump after the commander in chief addressed CIA employees at their headquarters in Langley, Virginia, on Saturday, Brennan's former deputy chief of staff says.

Trump spent much of his speech -- which he gave in front of a memorial wall that honors the 117 CIA officers who have fallen in the line of duty -- focusing on the size of the crowd size at his inauguration, his appearance on magazine covers and saying he "has a running war with the media."

"Former CIA Director Brennan is deeply saddened and angered at Donald Trump's despicable display of self-aggrandizement in front of CIA's Memorial Wall of Agency heroes," Nick Shapiro said in a statement. "Brennan says that Trump should be ashamed of himself."

Trump's visit, his first official one since becoming President, was seen as part of a bid to mend fences after he strained relations with intelligence officials by repeatedly casting doubt on their assessment that Russia had carried out cyberattacks during the campaign. He also suggested that the intelligence community was leaking information about the investigation to the press, taking to Twitter to slam Brennan, a 25-year veteran of the agency.

The President sought to send a message of support to the intelligence community following the turbulent transition, telling the 300 employees in attendance, "I am so behind you."

"I am with you 1,000%," Trump said after receiving intelligence briefings from top agency officials.

"There is nobody that feels stronger about the intelligence community and the CIA than Donald Trump," he said to applause, adding at the end of his remarks, "I love you. I respect you. We're going to start winning again, and you're going to be leading the charge."

Trump blamed the "dishonest" media for the perceived rift with the intelligence community.

Many observers had commented on the unmatched level of skepticism Trump had directed at the US intelligence apparatus, and other speakers Saturday addressed the relationship between presidents and the intelligence community.

"CIA's relationship with the president has been essential to our nation's strength and security," acting director Meroe Park said prior to introducing Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

"I can assure you this new President and our entire team recognizes and appreciates the sacrifices of all of the men and women of the intelligence community of the United States of America," Pence told the assembled group.

Trump echoed Pence's praise but drew the ire of Brennan as well as Democrats for using the platform to address political issues entirely unrelated to the CIA.

The backlash from a agency veteran like Brennan could undermine Trump's latest push to foster a strong relationship between the White House and the intelligence community.

The President did take a moment to acknowledge the memorial behind him, saying, "The wall behind me is very, very special."

Trump also spoke about his desire to "eradicate racial Islamic terrorism ... off the face of the earth. This is evil."

And he said about Iraq, "We should have kept the oil. Maybe we'll have another chance."

But Trump's off-the-cuff remarks veered into political territory at times, something not typically seen in addresses to intelligence professionals who pride themselves on being non-partisan and which drew a quick attack from Democrats.

The CIA audience was separated into two sections: a main area of all agency staff and a separate section directly in front of the stage that consisted of senior agency leadership, including agents. During Trump's address, the senior leadership stood the entire time. When Trump began drifting into political topics, the main crowd broke into cheers and applause at points. The senior leadership remained stoic, and did not applaud the political lines.

The president also repeatedly slammed the media, saying, "I have a running war with the media" and accusing news organizations of misrepresenting the size of the crowds at his inauguration speech on Friday.

He talked about the number of times he has been on the cover of Time magazine.

The ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee issued a statement shortly after Trump's visit ripping the new president.

"While standing in front of the stars representing CIA personnel who lost their lives in the service of their country -- hallowed ground -- Trump gave little more than a perfunctory acknowledgment of their service and sacrifice," Rep. Adam Schiff said, adding that Trump "meandered through a variety of other topics unrelated to intelligence."

"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," Schiff added.

The visit comes amid questions regarding the status of Trump's choice to run the agency, Rep. Mike Pompeo.

The CIA, currently being led by Park, is lacking a permanent chief as the Senate has delayed Pompeo's confirmation vote until Monday, with Democrats citing concerns about his positions on surveillance and other issues.

Pompeo, who was at the CIA with Trump, has encountered some controversy after he submitted responses to a Senate questionnaire where he said he would consider bringing back waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation measures under certain circumstances.

Republicans have slammed the delay, with Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas issuing a statement, saying, "The Democrats are obstructing the nomination of Mike Pompeo as CIA director for no good reason."

"I hope the jihadists take the weekend off from trying to kill Americans," Cotton added.

Kevin Liptak contributed to this story

Above is from:  http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/21/politics/trump-to-cia-i-am-so-behind-you/index.html

Listen to the entire speech:  http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trumps-entire-cia-speech/vi-AAm6dcd?ocid=spartandhp

Will major news outlets end “live” news conference with the new White House?

 

In Widening Rift With Trump, CNN Declines to Air White House Press Conference Live

 

Brian Steinberg

 

January 21, 2017 | 04:58PM PT

CNN this evening declined to air live a press conference with the nation’s new White House Press Secretary, pointing to a growing rift between the embryonic Trump administration and the press corps that covers it and undermining the credibility of Sean Spicer, a longtime Republican operative who has become the new spokesman for President Donald Trump.

Producers at the cable-news outlet, owned by Time Warner, this evening decided to see what was said at the press event, according to a person familiar with the network, then play relevant parts as deemed necessary. Despite a robust amount of evidence to the contrary, Spicer during the conference insisted that Trump’s inauguration Friday drew “the largest audience to witness an inauguration, period.” The statement is a deliberate falsehood: TV ratings data issued Saturday by Nielsen show that fewer people watched Trump’s swearing-in than President Obama’s inauguration in 2009. What’s more, photos of Friday’s crowds showed that a smaller number of people had come out to Washington, D.C.’s Mall to take part. Data from the Washington Area Metropolitan Transit Authority also suggested fewer people were attending the inauguration than in years past.

Spicer chastised the press for reporting the evidence about inauguration attendance accurately, then declined to respond to questions. CNN declined to make executives available for comment.

Trump and CNN have already sparred. During a press conference that took place before the inauguration, Trump labeled CNN as “fake news” after it reported that a synopsis of memos containing allegations against Trump  had been included in classified materials presented to both him and former President Barack Obama.

Now, at a time when TV-news outlets have seen their ratings thrive thanks coverage of the colorful and fiery politician, CNN’s decision could be a momentous one: Trump and his representatives have been known to obfuscate and lie. CNN’s refusal to take the live feed suggests executives there are reluctant to put false statements on air, and, what’s more, do not think the new White House press representative is entirely credible. President Trump accused CNN of peddling fake news, and perhaps CNN is now doing the same.

 

“CNN’s decision to not air the press conference live illustrates a recognition that the role of the press must be different under Trump. When the White House holds press briefings to promote demonstrably false information and refuses to take questions, then press ‘access’ becomes meaningless at best and complicit at worst,” said Danna Young, an assistant professor at the University of Delaware who studies politics and the media. “Democracy works best when journalists have access to the executive branch, of course. But that holds true if and only if that access leads to verifiable, accurate information. The decision on behalf of CNN to wait and verify before airing it live suggests that the media are adapting quickly to this new era.”

To be certain, news outlets routinely make decisions about whether to air press events live, usually based on projections about news value. But this press conference, held just a day after the President’s inauguration, would have been a hot prospect for a cable-news outlet, and could have sparked hours of debate and follow-up on CNN’s schedule.  In an unusual and aggressive maneuver, CNN aired its regular weekday lineup this Saturday, underscoring heavy interest in breaking news of a series of massive protests by women across the nation in response to Trump’s presidency as well as the new President’s first few days in office.

CNN has not established a policy about airing White House press conferences live, the person familiar with the matter said, preferring instead to make editorial decisions as circumstances demand. And it was not immediately clear Saturday evening whether its decision might prompt other news outlets to do the same. Spokespersons for CBS News, NBC News and MSNBC were not able to offer an immediate response. ABC News and Fox News Channel declined to make executives available for comment. Several outlets, including CBS News live-streaming CBSN and Fox News Channel, ran the White House press conference live. Broadcast networks typically only break into coverage when White House press events are of immediate national importance, but will play excerpts from the events during various programs.

Across the spectrum,  several TV journalists viewed the White House conference with a skeptical eye. During a Saturday broadcast of Fox News Channel’s “The Five,” panelists were heard noting that the Spicer event could not be considered a press conference because the press secretary took no questions.  Others were more blunt: “I’ve run out of adjectives,” said Chuck Todd, moderator of NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Twitter.

CNN’s decision may draw its own criticism. In the early days of the presidential campaign, the network came under fire for how much air time it devoted to Trump as candidate – particularly when it aired many hours of Trump speaking at rallies with little comment or editorial filter. “You never knew what he was going to say. You never knew what was going to happen there,” said Jeff Zucker, president of CNN Worldwide, while speaking at Harvard University in October. The CNN chief said at the time that he regretted giving the candidate as much air time as he received.

Above is from:  http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/cnn-white-house-press-conference-sean-spicer-donald-trump-1201966230/