WASHINGTON_After months of mocking the CIA and questioning its conclusions on Russian interference in the election, President Donald Trump went to the agency headquarters in Langley, Va., on Saturday ostensibly to reach out but instead delivered an animated, rambling address in front of its memorial to fallen officers.
The visit was designed to send a conciliatory message to the agency on Trump's first full day in office, as well as show his support for Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., Trump's nominee to run the CIA.
"I love you, I respect you. There is nobody I respect more. You are going to do a fantastic job. We are going to start winning again and you are going to be leading the charge," Trump said.
In free-form remarks at odds with the somber memorial to 117 fallen U.S. spies behind him, Trump called the media "dishonest" for describing him as feuding with intelligence services over the Russian election meddling, a contradiction of several public statements he's made. Last week, he accused intelligence agencies, without evidence, of leaking false information about him and compared it during a news conference to "something that Nazi Germany would have done and did do."
He also accused the media of lying about the size of the crowd at his inauguration, seemed to conflate the agency with the military at times and said "probably everybody in this room voted for me ... because we're all on the same wavelength."
He was applauded by the 400 or so CIA employees present when he arrived, though as he went on and strayed into political topics, senior agency officials in front of him remained subdued.
Trump also said the CIA would be at the forefront of his effort to defeat Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and to "eradicate" Islamic terrorists.
"Maybe sometimes you haven't gotten the backing you that you've wanted. You're going to get so much backing. Maybe you are going to say, 'Please, don't give us so much backing,'" Trump said.
The CIA split with Trump last fall when the agency's analysts concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered Russian intelligence officials to launch a so-called "influence operation" against on the U.S. election to undermine Hillary Clinton and help Trump win.
Trump had planned to swear in Pompeo while at the CIA, but Pompeo's confirmation vote was held up by Senate Democrats on Friday night. Pompeo is expected to be confirmed as CIA director next week.
