Former CIA director obliquely questions Trump's leadership in Puerto Rico crisis

Former CIA director obliquely questions Trump's leadership in Puerto Rico crisis

Elizabeth Weise
USATODAY Published 10:46 p.m. ET Sept. 30, 2017 | Updated 10:47 p.m. ET Sept. 30, 2017

As if having most of Hollywood lambast President Trump for his Twitter attacks on the mayor of San Juan over the Puerto Rican crisis weren't enough, now the former head of the CIA is questioning whether he's a leader capable of supporting free speech and safeguarding American lives.

In an oblique statement issued Saturday via a tweet, former CIA chief John Brennan suggested that by focusing on whether football players stand or kneel during the national anthem rather than the catastrophic problems in Puerto Rico, President Trump is demonstrating he does not have the leadership qualities needed by the American people.

Brennan does not directly refer to the President in the portion of his statement that's about the NFL issue, but it seems clearly about Trump's ongoing tweets expressing outrage over NFL players not standing during the national anthem to protest racial inequality in the United States.

Brennan's statement was tweeted out Saturday night by Nick Shapiro, formerly one of Brennan's senior advisors. Brennan himself does not have a Twitter account.

President Donald Trump tweets it's 'very important' NFL players stand for anthem

In the statement, Brennan said that taking a knee during the national anthem shows respect for the flag while at the same time expressing concern about problems within American society that need to be addressed.

"Pejorative and caustic comments about the practice show a disregard for one of the most important foundational principles of our great Nation — freedom of expression," he wrote.

It also shows an ignorance of the corrosive effects of racism and class bias in our country, he wrote.

Brennan was head of the CIA during the Obama administration, from March of 2013 to January of 2017.

His statement went on to say that "it is at times like this that government officials demonstrate that they either have or sorely lack the leadership qualities and values that are needed and expected by the American people."

Brennan then writes that the primary responsibility of the president is "to do anything possible to safeguard the lives of American citizens," which is why he should have a "laser-like focus on mitigating the catastrophic damage of Hurricane Maria on the people of Puerto Rico."

Saturday morning Trump went on a Twitter rampage against the mayor of the capital city of Puerto Rico, San Juan. He accused her of poor leadership and said she had been told to be "nasty" to him by the Democrats.

Lin-Manuel Miranda to Trump: 'You're going straight to hell' over Puerto Rico tweets

At the beginning of the month, Brennan was named a distinguished fellow for global security at the Fordham University School of Law’s Center on National Security.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...sis/720624001/

LOL!! Pretty obvious now why we've had so many "intel" failures during the previous administration. Got it wrong on Libya, wrong on Egypt, wrong on Syria, wrong on Russia, wrong on Iran, and oh my God, sooooooo wrong on North Korea.

I think Brennan was getting his "intel" from the National Inquirer. Hell, maybe the agents were too. We need a thorough shake up and clean out of our CIA.