President Trump’s first visit to a government agency since taking office was to the Central Intelligence Agency yesterday, where he addressed a crowd of around 400 people in the intellegence community and set the tone for his incoming administration.
In his first full day in office, President Trump declared war on the media
Journalists are apparently “the most dishonest human beings on Earth.”
Olivier Doulier - Pool / Getty Images
In his speech, the newly minted president of the United States declared he is at war with the media, calling journalists “the most dishonest human beings on Earth.”
His statements against the press were met with applause.
Trump attempted to assuage tensions between his administration and the CIA, which he said were purposely stoked by the media.
“They kind of made it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence community,” Trump said. “And I just want to let you know that the reason you’re the No. 1 stop is exactly the opposite.”
In December, the CIA concluded that the Russian government directed hackers to infiltrate servers connected with Hillary Clinton’s campaign in order to sway the election in Trump’s favor.
Trump responded to the CIA’s findings by lambasting the agency — repeatedly. He even went so far as to accuse the intelligence community of running a Nazi-like campaign against him to discredit his election victory.
The former CIA director, John Brennan, thinks Trump “should be ashamed of himself” for the “display of self-aggrandizement” at his speech in front of the CIA on Saturday, according to former deputy CIA chief of staff Nick Shapiro.
On MSNBC this morning, Trump’s campaign strategist Kellyanne Conway threatened that the Trump administration would have to “rethink [its] relationship with the press” if the media continues to debunk false claims made by Trump’s staff.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
