Pelosi argued Trump is likely unaware that the CIA sent an unclassified email to the Office of Personnel Management containing the names of recently hired employees.
“Sen. [Mark] Warner (D-VA), I thought, perfectly addressed the issues that relate to intelligence. Asking for the names of sources … therefore methods of our intelligence, which is there to protect our men and women in uniform and the American people, is with stiff competition, one of the worst ideas of this administration so far, with stiff competition, the worst idea,” Pelosi told MSNBC.
“I don’t even think President Trump knows about it, cause it’s — doesn’t even reach the level of his … lack of sophistication, [in] terms of intelligence,” she added.
Pelosi, a prominent Democratic power player, has feuded with Trump ever since his entry into politics.
Insulting Trump’s sophistication isn’t a new move from her. Pelosi called Trump “stupid” in her 2024 book, The Art of Power: My Story as America’s First Woman Speaker of the House.
“I’ve had a lot of conversations with this man, and at the end of nearly all of them, I think, ‘Either you are stupid, or you think that the rest of us are,’” the congresswoman wrote.
Trump chose John Ratcliffe, who served him during his first term, to be his CIA director. He’s pledged to prioritize going after China and drug cartels as the main adversaries of the U.S.
“To the brave CIA officers listening around the world, if all of that sounds like what you signed up for, then buckle up and get ready to make a difference,” Ratcliffe told lawmakers last month. “If it doesn’t, then it’s time to find a new line of work.”
The email from the CIA to the OPM featured employees’ first names and the first initial of their last names. They were also all on probation.
The vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), slammed the move in a post on X. “Exposing the identities of officials who do extremely sensitive work would put a direct target on their backs for China. A disastrous national security development,” he said.
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It’s unknown whether the employees will be laid off or asked to leave by the agency.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has prompted the federal government to cut positions from most departments. A recent eight-month deferred resignation offer had thousands of employees scrambling, but a judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enacting it, delaying the plan until at least Monday afternoon.
