Former CIA Director John Brennan exploded in outrage Wednesday over President Trump’s comments to ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos that he might not alert the FBI if a foreign government tried to interest his campaign in opposition research on an opponent.
Trump took a real world approach to the question, which has not sat well with his critics but it is a subject his interviewer knows well. Before joining ABC News, Stephanopoulos was a senior campaign advisor to the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton and then served as a senior advisor to President Clinton in the White House from 1993 through the end of 1996. Stephanopoulos worked for Clinton while Clinton was taking thousands of dollars from Communist Chinese agents for his 1996 reelection, including Johnny Chung pictured below. In contrast, the Trump campaign was not funded by foreign governments.
Video with captioning posted by ABC:
EXCLUSIVE: Pres. Trump tells @GStephanopoulos he wouldn't necessarily alert the FBI if approached by foreign figures with information on his 2020 opponent: "It’s not an interference. They have information. I think I’d take it." https://t.co/7gvoAViw9r pic.twitter.com/k5Yqd9YxdC
— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) June 12, 2019
Brennan responded,
“This is just the latest example of what Vice President Biden meant when he said that Mr. Trump is an existential threat to our country. “Unfit to be President” is a gross understatement. @realDonaldTrump is undeserving of any public office, and all Americans should be outraged.”
This is just the latest example of what Vice President Biden meant when he said that Mr. Trump is an existential threat to our country. “Unfit to be President” is a gross understatement. @realDonaldTrump is undeserving of any public office, and all Americans should be outraged. https://t.co/vi0gYUxi67
— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) June 12, 2019
John Brennan, screen image.
Asked by ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos in the Oval Office on Wednesday whether his campaign would accept such information from foreigners — such as China or Russia — or hand it over the FBI, Trump said, “I think maybe you do both.”
“I think you might want to listen, there isn’t anything wrong with listening,” Trump continued. “If somebody called from a country, Norway, [and said] ‘we have information on your opponent’ — oh, I think I’d want to hear it.”
“It’s not an interference, they have information — I think I’d take it,” Trump said. “If I thought there was something wrong, I’d go maybe to the FBI — if I thought there was something wrong. But when somebody comes up with oppo research, right, they come up with oppo research, ‘oh let’s call the FBI.’ The FBI doesn’t have enough agents to take care of it. When you go and talk, honestly, to congressman, they all do it, they always have, and that’s the way it is. It’s called oppo research.”
