Trump: If Intel Community Thinks 'Iran Is A Wonderful Kindergarten, I Disagree With Them 100 Percent'
February 3, 2019

U.S. President Donald Trump suggested on Sunday that his intelligence officials are so incompetent that they might describe Iran as a "wonderful kindergarten."

In an interview with Face the Nation that aired on Sunday, Trump was asked why he suggested that Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, FBI Director Christopher Wray and CIA Director Gina Haspel were "naive" and needed to go back to school.

"You have the caliphate almost knocked out," he said. "We will be announcing in the not too distant future, 100 percent of the caliphate, which is the area — the land — the area, 100. We're at 99 percent right now, we'll be at 100," Trump said, disagreeing with assessments that ISIS is still a threat.

On Iran, Trump argued that the intelligence community could be wildly wrong.

"My intelligence people, if they said in fact that Iran is a wonderful kindergarten, I disagree with them 100 percent. It is a vicious country that kills many people," he quipped.

Trump also shrugged off reports that Iran is in compliance with nuclear agreements, saying that he does not "have to agree" with intelligence assessments. It has been reported that intel agencies have been very careful about the intelligence that they share with Trump, especially when it doesn't conform to his preconceived notions.

There is no evidence that the intelligence community has ever described Iran as a "wonderful kindergarten."

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