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Ex-official: Putin cleverly playing to Trump ego

Posted at 9:37 PM, Nov 12, 2017
and last updated 2017-11-12 21:37:36-05

A day after being criticized by President Donald Trump, a former CIA director questioned whether Russian President Vladimir Putin was manipulating Trump with flattery during the president's lengthy trip to Asia.

Trump's trip is meant to be centered on trade and North Korea, and on Monday he is set to talk with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (doo-TEHR'-tay). But Trump remains dogged by things he has said, and not said, about Russia.

John Brennan said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" that Trump is trying to "delegitimize" the U.S. intelligence community's assessment that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election to help Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Brennan says Putin is "very clever in terms of playing to Mr. Trump's interest in being flattered." He says it demonstrates that Trump "can be played by foreign leaders."