Brennan blasted Trump Sunday on CNN’s "State of the Union" for attempting to downplay the conclusions reached by the U.S. intelligence community, namely that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election for the purpose of backing Trump.
For Brennan, such flip-flops by Trump on whether Russia did or did not intervene are a function of foreign leaders playing Trump’s ego and insecurities.
"By not confronting the issue directly and not acknowledging to Putin that we know you are responsible for this, I think he’s giving Putin a pass," Brennan said, according to The Washington Examiner. "It demonstrates to Mr. Putin that Donald Trump can be played by foreign leaders who are going to appeal to his ego and to try to play upon his insecurities which is very very worrisome from a national security standpoint."