CIA logo on floor
© Larry Downing / Reuters
President Trump wished the CIA a happy 70th anniversary on Monday and shared a video of a speech he gave at the agency's Langley, Va., headquarters in January, where he criticized the media and was applauded by his aides, not the senior CIA officials at the event.

"Happy 70th Birthday @CIA," Trump tweeted Monday morning.

Attached to the tweet was a video clip from Jan. 21 in which he said "there is nobody that feels stronger about the intelligence community and the CIA than Donald Trump."

In the clip, Trump pledged to be the strongest backer of the intelligence agency, then pivoted to criticizing the media for making up stories about issues between his administration and federal agencies.


"So I can only say that I am with you a thousand percent and the reason you're my first stop, is that as you know I have a running war with the media. They are among the most dishonest human beings on Earth," he said. "And they sort of made it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence community and I just want to let you know, the reason you're the No. 1 stop, it is exactly the opposite."

The crowd can be heard responding with loud cheers, but a later report found most of those yelling and clapping were White House aides standing in the back of the venue.


Comment: Yep, you read that right. Apparently there exists a "report" (by whom?) devoted to determining who clapped and who didn't at Trump's CIA speech. Because that is so important.


Senior CIA officials in the front rows did not respond, according to CNN.