Former CIA Director John Brennan criticized former President Trump in an interview with a Belgian state broadcaster published Sunday, saying Trump isn’t qualified to handle national security matters.
“I think he didn’t believe what we were telling him,” Brennan said in the interview with RTBF, referring to a meeting on national security he had with Trump before his inauguration in 2017.
“And he was especially trying to find out how we knew what we knew about Russian interference in the election,” Brennan continued.
“According to me, he was not qualified at the time, and he is not qualified today. We could see in particular that he did not understand the importance of the United States’s relations with our foreign allies and partners. He has little recognition for the transatlantic relationship, for NATO.”
In the interview, Brennan also expressed his concern about the former president not supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia.
He said Trump can undermine Kyiv in a variety of ways, for example by telling American intelligence not to help Ukrainian counterparts or by cutting off financial and military aid.
“And that would give Vladimir Putin the green light to try to almost swallow up Ukraine,” Brennan said. “And unfortunately, I think it will encourage [Russian President Vladimir Putin] to look hungrily toward the rest of Europe.”
Brennan, who served as CIA director under former President Obama, is a frequent critic of his ex-boss’s successor. In the wake of the 2020 presidential election, Brennan said he planned to “ignore Trump” and would “leave his fate to our judicial system, his infamy to history, [and] his legacy to a trash heap.”
“For four years, I spoke out vigorously against Donald Trump’s craven dishonesty, corrupt pursuit of personal interests, & trampling of our democratic principles,” Brennan said in a series of posts on then-Twitter in November 2020. “After serving over three decades in national security, I felt compelled to condemn Trump’s depravity & incompetence.”
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment on Brennan’s latest remarks.