Trump Trusts Putin More than US Intelligence

• 02.18.2019, 13:22
•  America,  World

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said in a newly released television interview that President Trump believed Russian President Vladimir Putin's assessment on North Korea's nuclear program over that of US intelligence agencies, The New York Times reports.

"And, essentially, the president said he did not believe that the North Koreans had the capability to hit us here with ballistic missiles in the United States. And he did not believe that because President Putin had told him they did not. President Putin told him that the North Koreans don't actually have those missiles," McCabe revealed during a sit-down with "60 Minutes" that aired Sunday night.

CBS' Scott Pelley asked what US intelligence had said to Trump. McCabe answered that US officials told Trump that Putin's assessment "was not consistent with any of the intelligence our government possesses."

"To which the president replied, 'I don't care. I believe Putin,' " McCabe recalled, having learned of the conversation from an FBI official who had just returned from a meeting at the White House.