Former CIA director and defense secretary Robert Gates told Charlie Rose that he is concerned about President Donald Trump's "apparent unwillingness to criticize the Russians."
Gates, a guest on Rose's PBS show, said that although Trump eventually acknowledged that Russia was behind election hacking, he needs to realize that "Russia's aggressiveness, its meddling, its interventionism, its general bullying and thuggery…. [is representative of its] real behavior."
He added that the new administration can't just be accommodating to Russia, look for deals with Russia," stressing that it needs to "figure out how, on the one hand, to push back against Putin's aggressiveness and meddling and interventionism, and at the same time, stop a continuing downward spiral in the U.S.-Russian relationship that is potentially quite dangerous."
'Gates, who called Trump "unfit to be commander in chief" during the election campaign, did say that he has been pleased by Trump's cabinet picks, particularly Rex Tillerson as secretary of state.
He also told "Today" that he has had "very serious, very thoughtful conversations" with Trump and that the new president will receive the guidance he needs from new CIA head Mike Pompeo in order to properly run the agency.
However, Gates admitted that he remains befuddled at times by Trump's comments, such as when he spoke to CIA employees over the weekend and asserted that the United States should have seized Iraqi oil fields because it would have prevented the rise of Islamic State.
Trump then even suggested that "maybe we'll have another chance" to take the oil.
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