Former Director of National Intelligence and CIR Advisory Board member James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan appeared together on CNN's State of the Union Sunday to answer President Trump's attack on them, along with former FBI director James Comey, as "political hacks" and Trump's assertion that he believes Putin's denials of election interference:
Brennan said Trump was in effect "giving Putin a pass," which invited other countries to seek to sway Trump.
Clapper concurred, saying, "I do think both the Chinese and the Russians think they can play him."
Brennan said Putin's apparent success with Trump was due to his use of flattery and Brennan's suspicion that Trump "for whatever reason" might be "intimidated" by Putin.
"It's either naiveté, ignorance or fear in terms of what Mr. Trump is doing vis-a-vis the Russians," Brennan said.
(...)
"He was referring to us as political hacks because he was trying to delegitimize the intelligence community assessment," Brennan said.
The Obama-era CIA chief added that he took the criticism from Trump with pride.
"Considering the source of the criticism, I consider that criticism a badge of honor," Brennan said.
Two former intelligence chiefs blast Trump over Russia comments (CNN)