The former head of the CIA endorses Hillary Clinton – says Putin “played” Donald Trump.
Former acting director of the CIA, Michael J. Morell, endorsed Hillary Clinton in a strongly worded op-ed published by The New York Times on Friday.
Morell, “a 33-year veteran of the CIA who led the agency from 2010-2013,” praised Clinton’s qualifications and warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin “played upon” Trump’s vulnerabilities, adding that “Donald J. Trump is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security.”
Morell began his op-ed by briefly describing his background:
During a 33-year career at the Central Intelligence Agency, I served presidents of both parties — three Republicans and three Democrats. I was at President George W. Bush’s side when we were attacked on Sept. 11; as deputy director of the agency, I was with President Obama when we killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.
Noting that he is “neither a registered Democrat nor a registered Republican,” Morell wrote that “As a government official, I have always been silent about my preference for president.”
“No longer. On Nov. 8, I will vote for Hillary Clinton. Between now and then, I will do everything I can to ensure that she is elected as our 45th president.”
“Two strongly held beliefs have brought me to this decision,” he continued, adding: “First, Mrs. Clinton is highly qualified to be commander in chief. I trust she will deliver on the most important duty of a president — keeping our nation safe. Second, Donald J. Trump is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security.”
Turning to Trump, Morell wrote that “Mr. Trump has no experience on national security. Even more important, the character traits he has exhibited during the primary season suggest he would be a poor, even dangerous, commander in chief.”
“These traits include his obvious need for self-aggrandizement, his overreaction to perceived slights, his tendency to make decisions based on intuition, his refusal to change his views based on new information, his routine carelessness with the facts, his unwillingness to listen to others, and his lack of respect for the rule of law.”
Morell also suggested that Trump had been played by Russian President Vladimir Putin, writing that Putin “was a career intelligence officer, trained to identify vulnerabilities in an individual and to exploit them. That is exactly what he did early in the primaries. Mr. Putin played upon Mr. Trump’s vulnerabilities by complimenting him. He responded just as Mr. Putin had calculated.”
“Mr. Putin is a great leader, Mr. Trump says, ignoring that he has killed and jailed journalists and political opponents, has invaded two of his neighbors and is driving his economy to ruin. Mr. Trump has also taken policy positions consistent with Russian, not American, interests — endorsing Russian espionage against the United States, supporting Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and giving a green light to a possible Russian invasion of the Baltic States.”
Morell concluded his scathing op-ed, writing: “In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.”
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