Senior U.S. officials believed President Trump posed a danger to national security after phone calls to other heads of state, according to classified phone calls obtained by CNN.
The CNN report claims that multiple high-ranking administration officials, such as former national security adviser John Bolton, former Defense Secretary James Mattis and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, concluded that the president was “delusional” after the phone calls.
Trump reportedly told former British Prime Minister Theresa May that she was “a fool” and spineless in her approach to Brexit, NATO and immigration policy. He also told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that she was “stupid” and accused her of being in the pocket of the Russians.
Sources told CNN he “demeaned and denigrated” the two leaders in “near-sadistic” verbal attacks.
Merkel reportedly took the attacks gracefully, letting Trump’s quips go “like water off a duck’s back.” May, on the other hand, got “flustered and nervous” when the president got aggressive with her.
“He clearly intimidated her and meant to,” one source told CNN.
A German official told CNN that Merkel decided to shrink her circle of advisers monitoring the calls with Trump because “they are indeed problematic.”
The CNN report also claims that Trump “bullied and disparaged” other leaders, such as French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Meanwhile, Trump was quite friendly with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, though sources told CNN officials that they were concerned about how unprepared the president would arrive at meetings.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.