An official with knowledge of the make-up of the crowd says that there were about 40 people who'd been invited by the Trump, Mike Pence and Rep. Mike Pompeo teams.
During the current controversy, Shapiro put Brennan's comments on his Twitter feed and then promoted a CNN story attacking Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS), Trump's nominee to run the Central Intelligence Agency. Senior staffers sitting near the front became more subdued as the president began to veer from topic to topic and charge that the media underestimated the crowd size at his swearing-in.
Pompeo had visited CIA headquarters Saturday with Trump, who used the occasion to offer support, and accused the media of creating a false perception that he was at war with the nation's spy agencies. "I am so behind you". When supporters roared their approval, Trump replied, "I think so". I don't think that there's any question about that.
SPICER: Honestly, I don't have a seating chart.
The 45th US President then went on to boast about being on the front cover of Time magazine 15 times and bragged of his own intelligence - in front of some of the brightest minds in America.
Why? "I know more about ISIS than anyone else", he says.
"I'm the most successful person ever to run for the presidency, by far". So, 10 out of 400, plus. I mean, it could be Russian Federation, but it could also be China.
SPICER: I just got handed a note.
Instead, Trump announced that he had talked to Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal about the deadly tornadoes that have killed almost a dozen people.
He did say this, mixed in with a lot of other stuff, and I've been getting texts and emails from intelligence professionals. And in fact, I spoke to a few last night who I thought maybe were there, so I wanted to get their opinion on what they thought.
"We really would prefer the intelligence community that's going out the door to be much more respectful toward the president and his vision in moving forward", Ms. Conway said Sunday on ABC's "This Week". "The reason you're the No. 1 stop is exactly the opposite".
Former CIA Director Mike Hayden, a Republican who opposed Trump, said he was "heartened that the President gave a speech at CIA", according to CNBC, but added: "It would have been even better if more of it had been about CIA".
The turnout at anti-Trump marches across the country exceeded the estimation of the organisers who particularly declared that it was no longer possible for the Washington rally to march to the White House because of the unprecedented attendance.
Intelligence people were "stunned" and "offended by the president's tone", CBS reports.
Blake, Aaron. "Sean Spicer's Defense of Himself and Explanation of Donald Trump's Sensitivity, Annotated".
Welcome to Amerika 2017, the bastard child of the twisted, warped and sick mind of Donald John Trump and his gullible followers.