Madeleine Albright ‘stunned’ by Trump’s treatment of intel leaders: ‘He doesn’t want to learn‘
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Thursday said that she’s “stunned” by President Trump’s public rebuke of his intelligence leaders.
“I worked for presidents that actually were interested in what was going on and knew what the role of the intelligence community is and was,” Albright said in an appearance on CNN’s “New Day.”
{mosads}”And so I am stunned by this, and I think it only proves something that troubles me deeply is that this president is someone that doesn’t want to learn,” she added. “I think that part of being a responsible public servant and a leader is to listen to different opinions and to understand and to ask in depth what is going on instead of putting them down.”
Albright, who served as ambassador to the United Nations and secretary of State for former President Clinton, said she believes Trump’s dismissal of his intelligence community worsens the U.S. standing in the international community and makes adversaries like Russia a greater threat.
Trump on Wednesday characterized intelligence officials as “extremely passive and naive” and suggested they “go back to school” on threats posed by Iran after top officials appeared to break with him in high-profile congressional testimony.
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and other top intelligence officials testified before Warner’s committee on Tuesday that a new U.S. assessment does not show Iran to be pursuing new nuclear weapons capabilities.
The president and other administration officials have repeatedly indicated that Tehran poses an imminent security threat and cited the country’s nuclear developments as a reason for pulling out of the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal.
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