CBS News reported on Friday that after The Wall Street Journal published a story that cited US intelligence agents who said they withheld some details of their operations from the president over fears that it may be compromised, Trump phoned his CIA director Mike Pompeo.
Trump “yelled at him for not pushing back hard enough” against the report, CBS News wrote.
Pompeo later released this statement in response to The Journal’s report: “The CIA does not, has not, and will never hide intelligence from the president, period. We are not aware of any instance when that has occurred.”
Some of the US intelligence officials cited by The Journal said they were hesitant to reveal to Trump the “sources and methods” that intelligence agencies use to collect sensitive information. Their reticence was apparently due in part to lingering suspicions surrounding alleged connections between the Trump administration and Russia.
