On same page with intelligence community\, says Trump

On same page with intelligence community, says Trump

Press Trust of India  |  Washington 

A day after advising his top spymasters to go back to school after they differed with him on global threat assessment, US on Thursday said he and the leadership of country's intelligence community are "on the same page."

After meeting with of Dan Coats, CIA and other top security officials, Trump said they told him their testimony at the hearing had been "mischaracterized" by the media.

Just concluded a great meeting with my team in the Oval Office who told me that what they said on Tuesday at the Hearing was mischaracterised by the media - and we are very much in agreement on Iran, ISIS, North Korea, etc, Trump said in a tweet.

He followed, Their testimony was distorted press... I would suggest you read the COMPLETE testimony from Tuesday. A false narrative is so bad for our Country. I value our intelligence community. Happily, we had a very good meeting, and we are all on the same page!

They (intelligence community leaders) said that they were totally misquoted and they were totally -- it was taken out of context. So what I'd do is I'd suggest that you call them. They said it was fake news, so -- which, frankly, didn't surprise me, he told reporters later Thursday in the Oval Office.

Earlier, on Wednesday, the had called chiefs "extremely passive and naive" and advised them to go back to school after they contradicted him on threats posed by Iran, and during congressional testimony.

The top security officials told a committee on Tuesday that the nuclear threat from persists and that is not taking steps towards making a nuclear bomb, conclusions that contrasted starkly with Trump's assessments of those countries.

Asserting that Iran's nuclear programme remains dangerous, Trump tweeted, "The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of They are wrong!

When I became President, was making trouble all over the Middle East, and beyond. Since ending the terrible Iran Nuclear Deal, they are MUCH different, but a source of potential danger and conflict, Trump said in a series of foreign policy tweets.

They are testing Rockets (last week) and more, and are coming very close to the edge. There economy is now crashing, which is the only thing holding them back. Be careful of Iran. Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school! he said in his harshest criticism of the powerful intelligence community of the country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Fri, February 01 2019. 08:15 IST