CIA Director John Ratcliffe indirectly confirmed the decision to limit the sharing of U.S. intelligence with Ukraine but suggested that it was restricted in scope and temporary, with the aim of pressuring the parties to return to negotiations.
“What President Trump said was that he called for a pause,” Ratcliffe stated during an interview with Fox Business.
As he mentioned, President Trump is the “President of Peace,” [he’s] never had a war under his leadership, and he wants to end the existing wars,” he added.
He further stated that President Trump had questions regarding whether President Zelensky was truly committed to the peace process, The Guardian writes.
“And he [Trump] said: let’s take a pause, I want to give you a chance to think about this.
And you saw the response President Zelensky made, stating, ‘I’m ready for peace and I want Donald Trump’s leadership to bring this peace.’
So, I think on both the military and intelligence fronts, the pause that allowed this to happen, I think, will end, and I think we will work side by side with Ukraine because we need to repel the aggression that is there, but [it was necessary] to put the world in a better place so that these peace negotiations can move forward,” he concluded.
