'Patently ridiculous': Former top intel officials hit back at Trump after criticism of bin Laden ra
Source: NBC News
Nov. 19, 2018 / 3:56 PM CST
Former top members of the intelligence community rebuked President Donald Trump on Monday for deriding the retired Navy SEAL who oversaw the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden as a "Hillary Clinton backer" and suggesting that he should have caught the al Qaeda leader sooner.
Responses to Trump's comments about retired Adm. Bill McRaven, who has criticized the president's attacks on the press, poured in Monday from former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who said Trump should apologize.
"This president owes Admiral McRaven and all of the SEALS involved in that operation an apology for what he's saying. He's undermining his position as commander-in-chief. Not only with those that conducted the operation, but with the entire military," Panetta, who served as the U.S. Secretary of Defense under President Barack Obama at the time of the 2011 raid that killed bin Laden, said on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports" Monday.
In a public statement issued later in the day, Panetta said Trump's "statement criticizing McRaven for not getting Bin Laden sooner is patently ridiculous" and "demonstrates a profound lack of understanding of how our military and intelligence agencies operate."
Earlier in the day, Brennan,....................................
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/patently-ridiculous-former-top-intel-officials-hit-back-trump-after-n938151
And silence from the congressional Republicans. It is shameful to say the least
Link to tweet
Link to tweet
= new reply since forum marked as read
