James Clapper, President Obama’s director of national intelligence, said Friday he sometimes wonders whether President Trump “is about making Russia again.”
Clapper and John Brennan, the CIA director under Obama, criticized Trump’s approach towards Russia during an appearance at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
“I sometimes wonder if what he is about is making Russia great again,” Clapper said. “I really wonder about that sometimes. That’s a real concern. Russia is an existential threat to this country.”
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer hosted a question and answer session with Clapper and Brennan at the security forum. Brennan said he was alarmed by the revelation this week that Trump had a second, undisclosed conversation with Russian Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany earlier this month.
Only a Russian translator participated in the conversation with Trump and Putin.
“Meeting with someone like the Russian president in this environment right now, you want to make sure you have someone there who has a record of the conversation and you can go back and make sure it was understood what was said,” Brennan said. “To have this one-off and rely on the Russian translator… who knows what exactly was said? There are concerns sometimes that what Trump says happens is not exactly what happens. It raises concerns about what else may be going on between Trump and Putin behind closed doors, or outside of public view.”
Trump this week described the interaction, which occurred during a couples dinner with other world leaders, as an innocent exchange of “pleasantries.” But he also acknowledged he spoke with Putin about “adoptions.”
Putin banned American adoptions of Russian children in 2012 after the U.S. enacted sanctions on Russians accused of human rights abuses.
Brennan also called on lawmakers to stand up and say “enough is enough” if Trump dismisses special counsel Robert Mueller.
Clapper, meanwhile, revealed that Trump asked him to put out a statement “rebutting” an unverified intelligence dossier about President Trump and his relationship with Russia. Clapper denied the request.
The dossier, among other things, said Russian officials tried to influence Trump by preparing to blackmail him with sex tapes and bribe him with business deals.
Brennan and Clapper, meanwhile, defended the Obama administration’s actions towards Russia.
Asked about their response to Russia’s election interference, Brennan said, “I think we did pretty damn well.”
