Former CIA Director John Brennan said Thursday North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has been strategically playing President Trump as the U.S. and the hermit kingdom prepare for a historic summit on June 12 in Singapore.
“Kim Jong Un, who I despise because of the brutality that he has put upon the North Korean people, but unfortunately I think he has been masterful in how he has manipulated perceptions and how he has manipulated and quite frankly duped Mr. Trump,” Brennan said during an interview on MSNBC.
“He escalated [tensions] in order to de-escalate and then to reach a plateau that allows him to retain that nuclear and ballistic missile capability, draw out negotiations over time, and in the meantime be able to get the economic benefits he has been looking for,” he continued, referring to Kim and relaxed diplomatic pressure from the U.S., China, and South Korea.
“he has been masterful in how he has manipulated perceptions & how he has manipulated and quite frankly duped Mr. Trump” – Former CIA Director @JohnBrennan on Kim Jong-Un & President Trump
w/ @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/2MWavKxPdg— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) May 10, 2018
As such, the chances of Trump achieving denuclearization on the Korean peninsula were “probably less than 0.1 percent,” Brennan predicted.
But Brennan was more optimistic regarding the Trump administration’s decision to nominate Gina Haspel as CIA director.
“I think she is very much a nonpartisan, she’s apolitical, and she will speak truth to power,” he said.
“Also Gina is the best hope to keep the CIA independent from what the White House is doing with so many other departments and agencies by putting people in there who are true loyalists,” Brennan added.
