FOREIGN POLICY/INTELLIGENCE/NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A day after he lashed out at U.S. intelligence agency chiefs over their assessments of global threats, President Donald Trump abruptly reversed course Thursday [1-31-19] and said that he and the intelligence community ‘are all on the same page.’ Trump met with his director of national intelligence and other top security officials in the Oval Office and said afterward that they told him their testimony at a Senate hearing had been ‘mischaracterized’ by the news media. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats had slammed the president for his comments disparaging Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, CIA Director Gina Haspel and other top security officials. The officials told Congress on Tuesday [1-29-19] that North Korea is unlikely to dismantle its nuclear arsenal and that the Iran nuclear deal is working, contrary to what Trump has claimed.”
–Associated Press, “In Reversal, Trump Says He and Intel Chiefs on ‘Same Page’,” The New York Times online, January 31, 2019