Trump Praises New CIA Director Gina Haspel At Her Swearing-In
WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork/AP) — President Donald Trump praised new CIA Director Gina Haspel at her swearing-in ceremony Monday, saying there was "no one in this country better qualified" for the job.
Speaking at CIA headquarters in Virginia, Trump said the new director would "never back down" in defending America.
The Senate confirmed Haspel last week after overcoming concerns about her role in the agency's use of harsh interrogation techniques after 9/11.
Trump said she showed courage during the process in the face of "very negative politics."
Haspel said she took pride in being the first woman to lead the agency, adding: "I stand on the shoulders of heroines who never sought public acclaim, but served as inspirations to the generations that came after them."
Haspel said she wants to send more officers into the field, improve foreign language proficiency among the ranks and strengthen the agency's working relationships with intelligence agencies in partner nations.
Striking a different tone from his previous visit to the CIA headquarters, Trump also hailed the agency staffers, calling them the "most elite intelligence professionals on the planet."
"The exceptional men and women of this agency deserve exceptional leadership," he said.
Hours before Trump visited CIA headquarters, he struck a different tone, promoting criticism of former CIA Director John Brennan and suggesting Brennan is to blame for the Russia probe.
On Twitter Monday, Trump referenced comments from conservative commentator Dan Bongino on "Fox and Friends," which argued that Brennan "started this entire debacle." Bongino, a former Secret Service agent, also said Brennan had "disgraced the intelligence community."
Brennan became the agency's director in 2013 under President Barack Obama and served until January 2017. He has been a vocal critic of Trump.
Meanwhile, the president on Sunday said he'll demand that the Department of Justice investigate the FBI after reports that an FBI informant interacted with the Trump campaign.
On Twitter, Trump said Sunday, "I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes - and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!"
Hours later, the DOJ did ask its watchdog to expand an existing probe. Trump also wants Congress to release classified documents that could reveal the name of the alleged informant.
"I have no information that would indicate that the president's tweets or theory of the case is at all based in truth," said Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia.
"I want to make sure that the FBI, the Department of Justice did not try, in their own way, to change the outcome of the election," said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
On Sunday, the president's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said Special Counsel Robert Mueller has indicated he could wrap up his investigation by September if Trump were to sit for an interview in July.
There has been no comment from Mueller's team.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
