When President Donald Trump got a national security briefing from the intelligence agencies, he indicated he had a greater trust in Russian President Vladimir Putin over his American intelligence. It wasn’t the first time former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe heard something absurd coming out of the Oval Office.
In wake of FBI Director James Comey’s firing, Trump continued to voice a greater trust in Russia. McCabe said in a “60 Minutes” interview that he recalled finding it strange. One day in particular, an FBI official returned from briefing the White House that did not go well.
“The president launched into several unrelated diatribes,” McCabe said. “One of those was commenting on the recent missile launches by the government of North Korea. And, essentially, the president said he did not believe that the North Koreans had the capability to hit us here with ballistic missiles in the United States. And he did not believe that because President Putin had told him they did not. President Putin had told him that the North Koreans don’t actually have those missiles.”
CBS co-host Scott Pelley seemed floored and asked what the intelligence experts told Trump.
“Intelligence officials in the briefing responded that that was not consistent with any of the intelligence our government possesses to which the president replied, ‘I don’t care. I believe Putin,’” he said.
“It’s just an astounding thing to say,” McCabe continued. “To spend the time and effort and energy that we all do in the intelligence community, to produce products that will help decision-makers and the ultimate decision maker, the president of the United States, make policy decisions. And to be confronted with an absolute disbelief in those efforts and an unwillingness to learn the true state of affairs that he has to deal with every day was just shocking.”