http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/u-s-official-donald-trump-s-body-language-claim-doesn-n644856SEP 8 2016, 11:37 AM ET
Trump Adviser Mike Flynn Interrupted Briefing Until Christie Intervenedby KEN DILANIAN
One of Donald Trump's top advisers interrupted intelligence officials at a recent briefing so many times that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had to intervene, NBC News has learned.
Mike Flynn, a retired general and former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, repeatedly questioned briefers during the Aug. 17 meeting, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Christie, who was also attending the briefing, touched Flynn's arm in an effort get him to calm down and let the officials continue, one source said.
The briefing is given to the presidential nominee from each party. Donald Trump raised eyebrows Wednesday night when he claimed that during his session, he could tell intelligence officials were "not happy" with President Obama by reading their "body language."
"What I did learn," Trump said at NBC's Commander-in-Chief Forum, "is that our leadership, Barack Obama, did not follow ... what our experts said to do ... And I was very, very surprised.
"I could tell — I'm pretty good with body language — I could tell they were not happy."
Timothy Barrett, a spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence, declined to comment Thursday on Trump's characterization of the body language of his intelligence briefers.
However, a U.S. official pointed out that intelligence officers don't give policy advice, so it would inaccurate to say that Obama failed to follow the advice of the intelligence community. A second U.S. official said analysts are trained not to allow their body language to betray their thinking.
That said, intelligence officials have asserted they warned the administration repeatedly about the rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria well before Obama ordered a bombing campaign. And as NBC News has reported, senior intelligence officials in 2012 proposed a covert operation to oust Bashar Assad in Syria, but Obama decided not to move forward with it.
Michael Morell, a former acting CIA director who was President George W. Bush's briefer and is now a Hillary Clinton supporter, said Trump's comments about his briefing were extraordinary.
"This is first time that I can remember a candidate for president doing a readout from an intelligence briefing, and it's the first time a candidate has politicized their intelligence briefing. Both of those are highly inappropriate and crossed a long standing red line respected by both parties," he said.
"To me this is just the most recent example that underscores that this guy is unfit to be commander in chief," Morell continued.
"His comments show that he's got no understanding of how intelligence works. Intelligence officers do not make policy recommendations. It's not their job and anyone running for president should know that. The people who briefed him, I'm pretty sure were career analysts — senior intel professionals. There is no way that they would in any way signal displeasure with the policies of the president."
There were fewer than 10 people in the room at Trump's briefing, and all the briefers were career intelligence officials, including both military officers and civilians, U.S. officials told NBC News. The names of the briefers have not been made public.
The briefing was conducted at the "secret" level of classification, and it did not cover sources and methods or covert operations.
