During the final months of his life, the late conservative Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) wasn't shy about attacking U.S. President Donald Trump over his dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin. McCain viewed Putin as a dangerous authoritarian and believed that Trump was allowing himself to be manipulated by the former KGB agent.
Rob Dannenberg, former chiefs of operations for the CIA Counterterrorism Center and an ex-CIA station chief in Moscow, during the 1990s, has similar views.
In an interview with the UK-based iPaper published on New Year's Day 2026, Dannenberg emphasized that Putin is great at identifying one's weaknesses and was trained to be a master of manipulation.
Dannenberg told the iPaper, "Those of us who served in Moscow understood Putin maybe a little bit better early on than others did…. I dealt with the KGB my entire life. I understand how this guy thinks."
Trump's ego, Dannenberg argues, is a vulnerability that Putin knows how to exploit —and Trump, the CIA veteran fears, is "incredibly naïve" where the Russian president is concerned.
Danneberg told the iPaper, "Putin looks at Trump and sees a weak guy, vain, with huge ego…. He's being manipulated in the way that a good case officer like Putin would manipulate this guy. He's not monogamous, he's greedy, he's fascinated by gold — all these are things that, if I were a case officer, I would be leveraging to get this guy to do what I want him to do. When that happens to align with Trump's ambition to get a Nobel Peace Prize, so much the easier, right? You're pushing on an open door."
Read the iPaper's full interview with Rob Dannenberg at this link.