Former CIA Director John Brennan said Monday that he was more inclined to believe statements coming from the Iranian regime than anything coming from President Donald Trump.
Brennan sat down with MS NOW host Symone Sanders-Townsend to discuss the competing claims — from both Trump and the Iranian regime — about whether recent communications were “productive” or even took place at all.
WATCH:
Former CIA Director John Brennan: “I tend to believe Iran more than I do Donald Trump because he could not acknowledge the truth even when he’s slapped in the face with it repeatedly.” pic.twitter.com/2GVqF2ZVfg
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Trump has said that recent talks with Iran were productive, but officials in Tehran have denied that any negotiations occurred.
Sanders-Townsend, who most recently worked as a top advisor to former Vice President Kamala Harris, began by saying that she was “wary” of taking Iranian officials at their word: “They are an authoritarian regime that’s known to lie, but, like, I’m confused! What’s going on? Help me! Calm me down.”
“Well, I tend to believe Iran more than I do Donald Trump because he could not acknowledge the truth even when he’s slapped in the face with it repeatedly,” Brennan replied.
Brennan, who was among the loudest voices pushing the Russian collusion hoax, suggested that Trump was not actually speaking to Iranian officials but was claiming he’d done so in order to convince the American people that he was not in over his head.
“He is flailing right now. He’s trying to figure out how he’s going to get out of this debacle that he has created. And so he’s going to make these claims about negotiations that the Iranians now are sending signals that they really want to make a deal and indicates that it’s going to make a deal on our terms. I don’t think anything close to the truth in that statement,” Brennan said.
The only concession Brennan made was that Trump’s team might be “talking to people,” but he insisted that they were not people who were speaking for the Iranian regime in any official capacity.
“They may be talking to people indirectly, and we know that the Turks and the Egyptians are trying to find some way to mediate this problem. So there could be some members, you know, distant members of parliament that are out there that are speaking individually,” he said. “But I don’t believe there’s anybody speaking authoritatively right now on behalf of the Iranian government with the Trump administration.”
President Trump posted his thoughts in all caps early Monday morning, saying that his administration had made progress toward ending the hostilities with Iran.
“I AM PLEASED TO REPORT THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE COUNTRY OF IRAN, HAVE HAD, OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS, VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
“BASED ON THE TENOR AND TONE OF THESE IN DEPTH, DETAILED, AND CONSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS, WHICH WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK, I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES AGAINST IRANIAN POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A FIVE DAY PERIOD, SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS,” he added.
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