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Dead Drop: January 27

Dead Drop: January 27

MR. TRUMP, STARE DOWN THIS WALL!  Well, President Donald Trump’s visit to CIA HQ was eventful.  As one CIA veteran told us – “Trump gave a great five-minute speech” at Langley. “Unfortunately,” he observed, “it was buried amid ten minutes of inappropriate stuff.”  Newly former CIA Director John Brennan let it be known (via tweets from his former Deputy Chief of Staff Nick Shapiro) that he was “deeply saddened and angered at Trump’s despicable display of self-aggrandizement.” So how did things go so wrong?  The Dead Drop hears that the visit was planned on very short notice – but was originally intended to feature the swearing in of Trump’s CIA Director, Mike Pompeo, in front of the iconic Wall of Honor – a site used for swearing in all new CIA officers these days.  When Senate Democrats delayed Pompeo’s confirmation a few days – the visit went ahead, but the event was repurposed as a pep talk.  An experienced White House advance team would have warned the President about the CIA HQ lobby being viewed as “hallowed ground” by Agency officers – but Trump’s advance people are experienced only in handling campaign like events.  (Whether Trump would have listened to advice to keep things serious is another question – but apparently, that was advice he never got).

STANDING OH? President Trump defended his appearance at CIA during his interview with ABC-TV’s David Muir Wednesday.  Trump said to Muir, “I have great respect for the people in intelligence and CIA. I'm – I don't have a lot of respect for, in particular one of the leaders. But that's okay.” He added that he got “the biggest standing ovation since Peyton Manning had won the Super Bowl, and they said it was equal.”  We didn’t know the Super Bowl was played at Langley.

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