--- ---  # Here's Why Donald Trump Is Criticizing Former CIA Director John Brennan by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 21, 2018 4:26 PM UTC  Former CIA chief John Brennan testifies on May 23 about Trump and Russian election espionage Former CIA chief John Brennan testifies on May 23 about Trump and Russian election espionageAl Drago—The New York Times/Redux by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 21, 2018 4:26 PM UTC President Donald Trump harshly criticized former CIA director John Brennan in a series of tweets quoting a guest on “Fox & Friends” just hours before he swore in the agency’s new director. Over the course of three tweets Monday, Trump quoted a lengthy criticism of Brennan from Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and congressional candidate, that aired on Fox News that morning. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/998532136578748425) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/998534123399663616) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/998537117180588033) While he was at the CIA, Brennan largely avoided the spotlight, but in recent months he’s become an outspoken critic of Trump, often lambasting his decisions and character on Twitter. In response to news that Trump had referred to Haiti, El Salvador and African countries “shitholes,” Brennan argued the president “continues to demonstrate daily that he is a deeply flawed person.” > [](https://twitter.com/johnbrennan/status/951602460853927937) In interviews (Brennan is an MSNBC commentator) he has suggested that Trump has made glowing statements about President Vladimir Putin because the Russian government “[may have something on \[Trump\] personally](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/us/politics/john-brennan-trump-putin.html).” He has also said that he thinks Trump is “[dishonest. He lacks integrity. He has very questionable ethics and morality.](https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/04/26/606021805/free-to-speak-ex-cia-chief-john-brennan-takes-on-trump)” And on Sunday, after Trump demanded that the Department of Justice investigate “whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes,” Brennan again weighed in on Twitter: > [](https://twitter.com/JohnBrennan/status/998301133545312259) Trump’s tweets came just hours before Trump attended the swearing-in ceremony for [Gina Haspel](http://time.com/5281461/gina-haspel-cia-confirm/), the first woman to lead the CIA. Donald Trump Criticizes John Brennan on Twitter ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5285480/donald-trump-john-brennan-cia-twitter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5285480/donald-trump-john-brennan-cia-twitter/"},"headline":"Here's Why Donald Trump Is Criticizing Former CIA Director John Brennan","datePublished":"2018-05-21T16:26:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:20:14.741Z","description":"President Donald Trump harshly criticized former CIA director John Brennan in a series of tweets quoting a guest on \"Fox & Friends\" just hours before...","url":"https://time.com/5285480/donald-trump-john-brennan-cia-twitter/","keywords":["Donald Trump","White House","intelligence","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23ba4c12dc70ada6/6988cecfbc6cfc502e3e1864/trump-allies-stumble-russia-probes-move-closer-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23ba4c12dc70ada6/6988cecfbc6cfc502e3e1864/trump-allies-stumble-russia-probes-move-closer-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"trump-allies-stumble-russia-probes-move-closer-white-house","caption":"trump-allies-stumble-russia-probes-move-closer-white-house","creditText":"Al Drago—The New York Times/Redux","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5285480/donald-trump-john-brennan-cia-twitter/","name":"Here's Why Donald Trump Is Criticizing Former CIA Director John Brennan"}}]}] ```