'Unsurprising': Ex-CIA Director breaks down Trump's meeting with Hungary's authoritarian leader

it's not surprising anymore but it's still worth our attention when Donald Trump Praises authoritarian leaders well this time it's Hungarian prime minister Victor Orban the two met yesterday in Florida where Trump said quote there's nobody better smarter or a better leader than Orban now let's be clear Orban is an authoritarian seeking to turn his country into what he himself calls an ill ill liberal democracy former CIA director in senior National sec security intelligence analyst John Brennan

joins us now welcome sir it seems like Donald Trump has a new boo and his name is Victor uh I'm wondering what happened to Putin but I'll leave that to the folks in intelligence to figure out how do you see this moment where a former president entertaining someone like a Victor Orban and sort of setting in motion um efforts to sort of mimic that uh that type of governance leadership here in the United States well again we're talking about Donald Trump so it's unsurprising in many respects Donald

Trump has a tremendous affinity for individuals that are made in his own image and likeness which is corrupt unprincipled self-centered and able to exploit an environment in order to advance their own personal agendas and now for Victor Orban who has done this for the past 14 years inside of Hungary in terms of suppressing any type of political opposition being able to corrupt the whole political system and the economy in the business system there as well so I think Victor orbon is his uh is Do

nald Trump's you know uh Idol and also his his self-reflection and this is something that I think Donald Trump very much uh admires I you know it was uh Victor Orban did his own state union address on February 17th and he says a lot in there but one of the things he notes is we cannot interfere in other countries elections we but we would very much like to see President Donald Trump return to the White House and make peace here in the eastern half of of Europe and when Victor Orban is talking ab

out peace in the eastern half of Europe thanks to Donald Trump I I I don't think he is talking about you know Pro protecting Ukraine's sovereignty and ensuring that you know Vladimir Putin is uh does not succeed in Ukraine no Victor Orban along with Vladimir Putin and others would like to see the United States recede from its Global responsibilities be able to not fulfill its NATO responsibilities and obligations and there for I think seeing Donald Trump as the candidate in the US presidential e

lection this is something that the Victor orbon Vladimir putins and others would like because they don't not do not see the United States as being somebody a country that's able to advance their own interests and therefore again Donald Trump given his his uh his experience lack of experience really and and given what he has done did in his first term of office they see him as the ideal US president because it will allow these authoritarian leaders to do what they want you know in their in their

regions and Vladimir Putin obviously is is counting on on Donald Trump to be reelect elected uh in order to advance his interest in Ukraine not just Ukraine even beyond that forgive me director Brenan will you help me understand the Biden administration's decision that they will give Donald Trump these these briefings because one you have the issue of Donald Trump having retained classified information and shared that classified information in the past and then you also have the issue that he re

mains close with some global leaders this um Trump retains close ties with foreign leaders including Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and could use the information to support them or Advance his own interests Trump once spilled details of a highly classified Israel intelligence operation to senior Russian officials in the Oval Office in another case he tweeted a picture taken by a classified spy satellite your sense of the B administration's thinking here well the B Administration is not going to pro

vide Donald Trump anything like those documents that were in Mara lago's bathrooms and or the satellite photography I think there's a lot of misunderstanding here about this issue um for the past 70 years sitting US presidents have offered to presidential candidates basically a highlevel intelligence briefing you would take place after the national conventions either democrat or republican these are very highlevel wave toop briefings about some hotpots that go on around the world to make sure th

at the Inc possible incoming president has an appreciation understanding of some of these developments globally but they don't get into source and methods not just with Donald Trump but with any other presidential candidate they they do it at a high level it's analysis it's assessments it's the type of things that uh that we need to make sure that a person who may in fact be in the white house has an appreciation understanding of now yes Donald Trump is a very unique individual who is unlike any

other presidential candidate in the past but I do think if the Biden Administration denied that briefing to him it would just feed into Donald Trump's image of victimhood and and Donald Trump's claims that the bid Administration is working to undermine his candidacy I think they can manage this I think this is a real good example of what's the least of the worst options that are available to them they will provide the briefings again it's going to be high level it's not going to be revealing so

urce and methods and no uh no briefing to a presidential candidate would get into that type of detail it again is going to go do around the world type of uh an analysis something akin to what uh Intelligence Officers do with Congress every year in the worldwide threat briefings is there a way to track that information flow for example um you know those briefings are given to him and and then there's some way to kind of manage how that you know not just what's in the briefing but then what he doe

s with that with that information is that just totally within his purview once he gets the briefing I mean is it all documents is it verbal I mean how does that process unfold because you've got folks out there like even John Bolton who sitting there scratching their heads going why would you do this giving this guy's propensity you know he doesn't pay adequate attention as it is to uh the specifics and the necessary uh importance of these secrets um and to give it to someone who has a propensit

y has already shown a propensity to want to share that information as you pointed out Alicia um I hear what you're saying Mr director but there there's still this thing in my gut that goes you dealing with Donald Trump here who has no gives no regard or value to our nation Secrets if it helps him with Victor Orban Vladimir Putin and other Bad actors across the the globe they're not going to give Donald Trump any documents it's going to be an oral briefing okay and so for example they'll talk abo

ut the obstacles to trying to find a way toward peace in the Middle East what are the obstacles to a two-state solution what are the interests the concerns on the part of Hamas Israel other Regional actors that type of analysis so that an individual has an appreciation for some of those developments that are taking place I don't think there's again a risk uh and I participated in some of these briefings in the past they're not going to get down into the type of details or how we know something o

f specific in information so they're not going to be able to track and they will not track what Donald Trump does with it but again it's the analysis it's probably one level lower than a New York Times you know front page piece about what's happening in Ukraine and China and the Middle East so it it's something that I think again the B Administration looking at what their options were I do think this is the best decision that they've made that they could make on this one because again if they de

nied it it would just lead to more outrage on the part of of not just Donald Trump but his his supporters and they're offering this briefing to the nominee of the Republican Party granted it's not the Republican Party Michael that you were part of years ago but it is the nominee for the Republican Party one of the two parties of the in the United States political system okay I I feel somewhat better thank you that