Ex-CIA Director: NATO Leaders Should Push Back Against Trump's 'Reckless Behavior'

Former CIA Director John Brennan on Wednesday blasted US President Donald Trump after he hammered allies about their contributions to NATO at the group's annual summit.

News ID: 71160

Date: 12 July 2018 - 16:27

TEHRAN (Defapress)- “It is in the interest of America’s security if NATO leaders push back against the reckless behavior of Donald Trump, who is dangerously naive & grossly ignorant of how the world works,” Brennan said on Twitter, The Hill reported.

“History inevitably will regard Trump as one of the most disastrous figures of the 21st century,” the former CIA official continued.

He also shared a blistering statement from former Secretary of State John Kerry condemning the President’s remarks to NATO members at the summit in Brussels, calling them "strange" and "counterproductive".

Brennan’s remarks arrive after the President criticized Germany at the ongoing NATO summit over a pipeline deal with Russia, claiming the agreement made Berlin "captive to Russia" and urging NATO to assess the situation.

"I have to say, I think it's very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia, where you're supposed to be guarding against Russia, and Germany goes out and pays billions and billions of dollars a year to Russia," the President said during a meeting with the NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg within hours of his arrival at the summit.

"If you look at it, Germany is a captive of Russia because they supply," Trump continued, adding that "they got rid of their coal plants. They got rid of their nuclear. They're getting so much of the oil and gas from Russia. I think it's something that NATO has to look at. I think it's very inappropriate".

The President is facing backlash for his repeated criticism of allies in contrast to his often friendly rhetoric toward Russia and its President, Vladimir Putin.

Brennan has regularly criticized Trump's presidency. In an op-ed published in The Washington Post earlier this year, he compared the president to “corrupt, incompetent … demagogues”.

Trump responded to the scathing editorial in a tweet shortly after by quoting former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino, who said that no "single figure in American history has done more to discredit the intelligence community than" Brennan.

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