FOREIGN POLICY/MIKE POMPEO/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “One of the first problems that Mike Pompeo solved for Donald Trump was the President’s Daily Brief. On every morning (or at least some of them), the president has traditionally received the most crucial findings of the United States spying apparatus, personally delivered in a solemn face-to-face exchange with a senior intelligence official. Beginning in late 2016, a series of anonymously sourced reports claimed that Trump was not taking the brief with sufficient frequency, or seriousness, or focus, or preparation. Even after the inauguration, there were claims that the spies did not trust him and were holding the good stuff back; there were claims that Trump did not even believe in objective reality. In the middle of it was Pompeo, Trump’s new C.I.A. director, who some in the president’s circle felt was the man best suited to educate Trump about the complexities of foreign policy.”
–Mattathias Schwartz, “Mike Pompeo’s Mission: Clean Up Trump’s Messes,” The New York Times online, February 26, 2019