CIA Claims Briefing Trump Was A Challenge, Relationship Worsened After They Presented Steele Dossier

A new account published by the CIA's internal research center indicates President Trump had a tense relationship with the intelligence community and that briefing him was a 'challenge.'

A new account published by the CIA’s internal research center indicates President Trump had a tense relationship with the intelligence community and that briefing him was a ‘challenge.’

Observers of foreign policy and intelligence issues won’t be surprised.

Former CIA officer John Helgerson writes in an update to his book, “Getting to Know the President,” that Trump’s relationship with intelligence agencies took a turn as they began investigating alleged collusion between campaign contacts and Russia.

“Trump was like Nixon, suspicious and insecure about the intelligence process, but unlike Nixon in the way he reacted,” he explained.

“Rather than shut the [intelligence community] out, Trump engaged with it, but attacked it publicly,” adds Helgerson.

RELATED: Washington Post Has Corrected At Least 14 Articles That Used Discredited Steele Dossier

Tense Relationship

Some observers noted concern over the CIA having a book and entry – featured on the agency’s “Center for the Study of Intelligence” website – with such a partisan tone.

Cliff Sims is a former special assistant to President Trump.

Sims tweeted that the CIA’s portrayal of the former President as a “unique challenge” has led to “many credible people both inside and outside the IC [intelligence community]” viewing it “as an attack on” Trump.

Trouble seems to have intensified when President Trump wasn’t necessarily buying the CIA’s explanation regarding the thoroughly debunked Steele dossier.

CBS News reports, based on the CIA book addition, that Trump’s “already charged relationship with the intelligence community took a turn for the worse after he was briefed on the contents of a dossier – whose most salacious claims have since been discredited.”

Really? He was kind of pissed over a fake news story that the CIA was now briefing him on? Color me stunned.

And are we supposed to believe that the most powerful intelligence agency in the world didn’t know the claims were false?

CBS adds that the CIA tried “to explain that the intelligence community had not relied on the dossier to arrive at its assessments of Russia’s 2016 election interference,” and “had not leaked the document to the media.”

Surprisingly, “Trump remained unpersuaded and embittered.”

The Washington Post, which had been awarded the Pulitzer for their 2017 coverage of Trump and the ‘Russia collusion’ narrative, was caught last month quietly editing at least 14 articles that relied on the discredited dossier.

“Trump ‘vented for 10 minutes about how we [the IC] were out to destroy him,” Helgerson wrote. “[Veteran CIA Analyst Ted] Gistaro did not believe that Trump ever accepted subsequent IC disavowals of responsibility for the dossier.”

Hard to imagine he’d be upset over a fake dossier that was used to undermine his entire presidency. A dossier the CIA provided a briefing on and was somehow leaked to the media at some point.

 

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Rusty Weiss has been covering politics for over 15 years. His writings have appeared in the Daily Caller, Fox... More about Rusty Weiss

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