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CIA chief warns Trump to watch his tongue

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WASHINGTON CIA Director John Brennan had a stern parting message for Mr Donald Trump, days before the US President-elect takes office, cautioning him against loosening sanctions on Russia and warning him to watch what he says.

On Sunday, Mr Brennan rebuked Mr Trump for comparing US intelligence agencies to Nazi Germany.

The comments by the outgoing CIA chief reflected the extraordinary friction between the incoming president and the 17 intelligence agencies he will begin to command once he takes office on Friday.

In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Mr Brennan questioned the message sent to the world if Mr Trump broadcasts that he does not have confidence in the US' own intelligence agencies.

"What I do find outrageous is equating the intelligence community with Nazi Germany. I do take great umbrage at that, and there is no basis for Mr Trump to point fingers at the intelligence community for leaking information that was already available publicly," Mr Brennan said.

His criticism followed a tumultuous week of finger-pointing between Mr Trump and intelligence agency leaders over an unsubstantiated report that Russia had collected compromising information about Mr Trump.Later on Sunday, Mr Trump took to Twitter again to berate "those intelligence chiefs" for presenting the dossier as part of their briefing.

"When people make mistakes, they should APOLOGIZE," he wrote. - REUTERS

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