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officials told TIME in February 2019 that the president often has a “stubborn disregard for their assessments” and displays “willful ignorance” when presented with intelligence officials’ analyses, particularly when it comes to anything that goes against his existing beliefs. Officials said that Trump would often have “angry reactions when he is given information that contradicts positions he has taken or beliefs he holds,” and intelligence officials have been advised against giving Trump assessments that would contradict a stance he’s publicly taken. “This is the first president that the intelligence community has had to deal with whose instinctive departure point is not the truth,” former CIA briefer David Priess said on MSNBC in early 2019. “He goes from his belief first.”