As tensions remain high between President-elect Donald Trump and the intelligence community over Russian election interference, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Sunday that Mr. Trump shouldn\u2019t have a good relationship with the U. S. intelligence agencies right now.
\u201cI don\u2019t think there should be a good relationship right now,\u201d Gingrich told CBS\u2019 \u201cFace the Nation.\u201d. \u201cThe very top people who are political appointees I think absolutely betrayed and undermined the intelligence community. I think they acted in ways that are totally inappropriate.\u201d
Gingrich was responding to questions about how Mr. Trump will be able to work with intelligence agencies after his sustained criticism of their findings and actions. At his first press conference since being elected, Mr. Trump said it is a \u201cdisgrace\u201d that information leaked out from his classified briefing with intelligence officials.
Mr. Trump should call for a full overhaul of the intelligence agencies once he takes office, Gingrich said.
\u201cI hope what he does is say to the new director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, \u2018I expect you to thoroughly overhaul the entire community,\u2019\u201d he said.
As for diplomacy with other countries around the world, Gingrich acknowledged that there will be a \u201cperiod of adjustment\u201d to Mr. Trump\u2019s brand of diplomacy by Twitter — and that the rest of the world will get used to his being \u201ccomplicated.\u201d
\u201cWe\u2019re going to go through a period here of adjustment to the fact that we have the first truly entrepreneurial president we\u2019ve seen in modern times,\u201d he said. \u201cDonald J. Trump got to be president his way and he\u2019s going to be president his way — and the fact is, the rest of the planet is going to have to for better or worse cope with a president who\u2019s very complicated.\u201d
That means his foreign policy and national security Cabinet officials — including secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson , defense secretary nominee James Mattis and U. N. ambassador nominee Nikki Haley — will have a \u201creally large assignment.\u201d
\u201cIt can mean a lot of phone calls for example from the foreign minister to Tillerson saying, \u2018Rex what is this guy doing?\u2019\u201d Gingrich said, adding that Tillerson, Mattis and Haley will be \u201cthe explainers who have to be able to go both ways — that is, walk and say, \u2018Mr. President what you said yesterday was interpreted the following way.\u2019\u201d
\u201cAnd he\u2019ll learn from that,\u201d Gingrich said of Mr. Trump. \u201cIt\u2019ll be a 90-day cycle of real learning.\u201d
Most of all, Gingrich said, Mr. Trump and his team will need to stay focused on their top priorities and not get distracted — he suggested the incoming administration designate three to five priorities and \u201cstay focused on them every morning as long as they can until they get them done.\u201d
\u201cThe hardest thing for a president to do is remember why they got up in the morning and what they\u2019re trying to accomplish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n

\nSimilarity rank: 5.3\n<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: 2.7<\/div>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n