--- title: Trump Bashes List of Former U.S. Intelligence Officials description: President Donald Trump bashed a list of former intelligence officials, including John Brennan and James Clapper during a CBS News interview. canonical: https://time.com/5342859/trump-us-intelligence-officials/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-19T12:24:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:53:51.443Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Bashes List of Former U.S. Intelligence Officials og:description: "I have no confidence in a guy like Brennan. I think he's a total low-life" og:url: https://time.com/5342859/trump-us-intelligence-officials/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaecaf93cedd14341/698935b497cdffd08f6b5c32/donald-trump.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4500 og:image:height: 2531 og:image:alt: President Trump Holds A Cabinet Meeting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Bashes List of Former U.S. Intelligence Officials twitter:description: "I have no confidence in a guy like Brennan. I think he's a total low-life" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaecaf93cedd14341/698935b497cdffd08f6b5c32/donald-trump.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Says He Believes U.S. Intelligence – Then Bashes a List of Former Officials > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=fd6d9fd3-823f-43e1-afe1-87359293d7b7&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jul 19, 2018 12:24 PM UTC  President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting on July 18, 2018. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting on July 18, 2018. Pool—Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jul 19, 2018 12:24 PM UTC President Donald Trump acknowledged again that he believes Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, saying that he had faith in U.S. intelligence agencies – but then pivoted moments later to slam many of the former heads of the intelligence and security communities, saying he “can’t have any confidence” in past officials. CBS News anchor Jeff Glor [on Wednesday asked Trump](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-putin-meeting-helsinki-russia-election-meddling-believes-us-intelligence-interview-transcript-today-2018-07-18/) whether he agrees with U.S. intelligence officials that Russia interfered with the 2016 election, days after Trump [denied Russian meddling](http://time.com/5339830/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-summit-helsinki-meddling/) during a [summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin](http://time.com/5339045/trump-putin-helsinki-summit-expectations/), then [backtracked and said he misspoke](http://time.com/5341137/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-russian-meddling-correction/). “Yeah and I’ve said that before, Jeff,” Trump replied. “I have said that numerous times before, and I would say that is true, yeah.” Trump also praised Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and CIA Director Gina Haspel, and said he has confidence in U.S. intelligence agencies “as currently constituted.” > [](https://twitter.com/CBSEveningNews/status/1019716151314731008) Later in the interview, however, Glor asked Trump if he feels that any intelligence agencies are “out to get \[him\],” prompting Trump to list several former officials — including former CIA Directors John Brennan and Michael Hayden, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former FBI Director James Comey, among others — who he believes contributed to a “terrible” past. Some of the officials mentioned, while holdovers from the Barack Obama administration, served under Trump at some point. Many also served under President George W. Bush. “You look at Brennan, you look at Clapper, you look at Hayden, you look at Comey, you look at \[former FBI Deputy Director Andrew\] McCabe, you look at \[FBI agent Peter\] Strzok and his lover, \[former FBI lawyer\] Lisa Page. You look at other people in the FBI that have been fired, are no longer there,” Trump said. “Certainly I can’t have any confidence in the past,” the President added. “But I can have a lot of confidence in the present and the future, because it’s getting to be now where we’re putting our people in. But in the past, no, I have no confidence in a guy like Brennan. I think he’s a total low-life. I have no confidence in Clapper….Take a look at all of the shenanigans that have gone on. Very hard to have confidence in that group.” When pressed by Glor during the interview as to whether Putin’s denial of Russian meddling is a lie, Trump demurred. “I don’t want to get into whether or not he’s lying,” he said. In the lead up to the their summit, Trump maintained that [Putin was his “competitor,”](http://time.com/5336771/trump-putin-competitor/) rather than his enemy, later adding that the two men could someday be friends, if they knew each other better. > [](https://twitter.com/CBSEveningNews/status/1019715504955674624) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5342859/trump-us-intelligence-officials/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5342859/trump-us-intelligence-officials/"},"headline":"President Trump Says He Believes U.S. Intelligence – Then Bashes a List of Former Officials","datePublished":"2018-07-19T12:24:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:53:51.443Z","description":"\"I have no confidence in a guy like Brennan. 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