Russia interfering in the 2020 election to get President Trump reelected is the “worst nightmare” of the spy world, according to a reporter.
Ken Dilanian, who is a national security correspondent for NBC News, made an appearance Thursday evening on MSNBC to discuss new reporting about an intelligence briefing lawmakers received last week about yet another Russian attempt to interfere in the U.S. election.
“It’s the worst nightmare of many of my sources in the intelligence world,” Dilanian said in response to a New York Times report about how Shelby Pierson, an aide to outgoing acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, was said to have angered Trump by giving a classified briefing to Congress about Russia he feared could be used against him.
According to Dilanian’s reporting, a former official said this incident is what cost Maguire his job and his shot at taking on the role permanently. The president announced on Wednesday that Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany and a Trump ally, would replace Maguire as acting DNI.
“The notion that, because a briefing of that information was delivered to a bipartisan group of lawmakers, that cost Joe Maguire the job as director of national intelligence? That’s a bombshell. That’s an earthquake,” Dilanian said.
“We want our intelligence officials to speak truth to power,” he added.
Trump has a history of speaking out against members of the intelligence and law enforcement communities, including former FBI Director James Comey. He called special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, which found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, a “witch hunt.”
As some Trump allies talk of a “deep state” trying to undermine the president, Attorney General William Barr is overseeing a review of the Russia investigation, which is conducted by U.S. Attorney John Durham.
