Obama-era CIA Director John Brennan said President Trump might remove heads of intelligence agencies even if he loses the election.
Brennan warned that the president might remove the heads of agencies and replace them with officials who would “do his bidding.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he decides to sack Christopher Wray as well as, maybe, Gina Haspel at CIA. And to install people who are going to try to do his bidding for him,” Brennan told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace. “And so, that’s why I do believe this is a very dangerous time because as your previous guests have said, Donald Trump is not used to losing at all.”
“He still retains the power of the presidency until noon on Jan. 20, and so, he can do a lot of damage domestically as well as internationally,” he continued.
Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin earlier reported that “Trump might fire Defense Secretary Mark Esper, as early as today. Maybe CIA Director Gina Haspel too.” He added: “Some officials say FBI Director Chris Wray was also on the list, but other officials say Wray has been taken off the list and is now expected to stay.”
In response to the reporting, White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere told the Washington Examiner that “If the President doesn’t have confidence in someone he will let you know. The White House does not speculate or comment on personnel matters.”
Trump was looking to remove Wray and Haspel from their posts should he win reelection, Axios reported in October.
A series of actions, or lack thereof, taken by Wray leading up to the general election upset Trump, including not opening an investigation into Hunter Biden’s foreign business practices and ties, which was widely reported on before the final presidential debate. Trump reportedly grew frustrated with Wray for not removing more bureau officials related to the Russia investigation and for testifying in September that the FBI had not seen evidence of widespread voter fraud.
“Major law enforcement associations representing current and former FBI agents as well as police and sheriff’s departments across the country have consistently expressed their full support of Director Wray’s leadership of the Bureau,” a senior FBI official told Axios.
Trump’s confidantes in the West Wing have grown increasingly distrustful of Haspel, sources also told Axios.
“The view of Haspel in the West Wing is that she still sees her job as manipulating people and outcomes, the way she must have when she was working assets in the field,” said a source with knowledge of the conversations on the potential administration shake-up. “It’s bred a lot of suspicion of her motives.”
Haspel’s opposition to declassifying documents to assist U.S. Attorney John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the Russia inquiry has also reportedly frustrated the president.
“Since the beginning of DNI’s push to declassify documents, and how strongly she feels about protecting sources connected to those materials, there have been rumblings around the agency that the director plans to depart the CIA regardless of who wins the election,” a CIA source told Axios about Haspel in a second-term Trump administration.
“Director Haspel continues to proudly serve at CIA, and we’ll leave the election season speculation to others,” a CIA spokesman told CBS News.
