Trump Lashes Out at CIA Director

Soon-to-be-former CIA Director John Brennan strongly criticized Donald Trump on Sunday for reckless tweeting and for failing to understand the threat from Russia—and the president-elect took to his communication medium of choice to react. "'Outgoing CIA Chief, John Brennan, blasts Pres-Elect Trump on Russia threat. Does not fully understand,'" Trump tweeted, quoting a Fox headline. "Oh really, couldn't do much worse - just look at Syria (red line), Crimea, Ukraine and the build-up of Russian nukes. Not good! Was this the leaker of Fake News?" Trump wondered. In an earlier tweet about the Russia dossier, Trump said intelligence chiefs and the media should "APOLOGIZE" for making "a mistake."

Brennan had told Fox News Sunday that Trump needs to be a lot more disciplined about his "talking and tweeting" when he becomes president, the Hill reports. "Spontaneity is not something that protects national security interests and so therefore when he speaks or when he reacts, just make sure he understands that the implications and impact on the United States could be profound," he said. Brennan—who leaves office Friday, along with other Obama administration officials—also warned Trump against "absolving Russia of various actions that it's taken in the past number of years" and said it was "outrageous" that Trump had compared the intelligence community to Nazi Germany, the BBC reports. (Trump also tweeted criticism of Saturday Night Live after the "really bad" show's latest portrayal of him.)