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Dead Drop: January 26

<p>dead drop</p>

CRUSHING FOES AND KILLER GRAPHICS: CIA Director Mike Pompeo invited CBS News to his headquarters for a lengthy interview that aired on “CBS This Morning” on Jan. 22. Speaking of the then-ongoing government shutdown, Pompeo told Norah O’Donnell it “won’t impact our operations here at CIA.”  He continued, “We’re gonna continue crushing our adversaries, whether the government’s open or closed.” Describing the intelligence briefing he gives the president most days, he said he delivers “the most exquisite information any leader in the world ever gets a chance to see” and it comes complete with the “killer graphics” the president loves. Among the folks Pompeo crushed was his predecessor John Brennan, who has criticized President Donald Trump’s Jan. 21, 2017, speech before the CIA Memorial Wall.  Asked about that criticism, Pompeo said “there's a long history of former directors behaving in a way that reflects the excellence, professionalism and nonpolitical nature of the Central Intelligence Agency. It is my hope that all the former directors will behave that way. Because when they don't, they do damage to the CIA.”

RETURN FIRE: It turns out Brennan was in Florida making some speeches the day of Pompeo’s appearance on CBS News. The Bradendon Herald reported that Brennan was asked about another statement Pompeo made in the CBS interview –that he wished the Obama administration had taken Russian interference in U.S. elections as seriously as the Trump administration is now doing. “Well, I disagree with Mike Pompeo on that,” Brennan said, adding that Pompeo was not a member of the Obama administration or a senior member of the House intelligence committee. “He knows not of what he speaks.”

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