Leon Panetta

I always thought that the strongest presidents are willing to have people who come in who may not represent the same viewpoint.

You really need to have a relationship of trust between the chief of staff and the president.

You know, nothing surprises me anymore unfortunately because you know it appears that this president likes to operate by chaos, and likes to keep staff constantly concerned about whether or not they are going to have a job.

If you have an unstable staff, it makes it that much tougher to deal with that kind of world.

I think for Donald Trump, who probably enjoys the attention here of this kind of meeting. I think his primary problem is sticking to talking points and really laying the kind of ground work that has to be laid for the kind of serious…

But, in order for the United States not to repeat the mistakes of the past in terms of how we deal with North Korea, I think a lot of preparation has to be done. A lot of issues have to be looked at, and a lot of caution has it to be…

I would wish that the focus would be on those men and women who are willing to serve and put their lives on the line and on the families that have lost loved ones, that's where the focus ought to be.

I think he's trying to make -- make Americans understand what's involved here when a loved one is lost.

It seems chaotic. It doesn't seem that, you know, there's... I think that John Kelly has done a great job in putting a chain of command in place and better discipline within the White House.

I think it would be well for President Trump. We're now 10 months into his administration that rather than seeking some kind of scapegoats in the past with President Obama or other presidents, that he now accept responsibility for what he…

It bothers me that a president of the United States, instead of accepting responsibility for what he does and what his administration does, constantly looks for other scapegoats, whether it's Congress, whether it's past presidents, whether…

There is no strategy here. I think what you're seeing is a president who has very little experience in governing, very little experience in politics.

If he doesn't learn that lesson, mark my word -- he will not achieve any major legislation certainly in this first year of his presidency.

The President, I think, thinks that he's the smartest guy in the room. And that's the biggest mistake a president can make.

It's a very important statement that reflects a real breakdown between the president and the majority leader in the Senate.

If you're going to be a chief of staff, you have to be a strong chief of staff.

I think it is very important in any White House to be able to have someone like a chief of staff be able to look the president in the eye and tell him when he's wrong.

No, not at all. I think it frankly undermines something that has made the United States, the strongest military power on the face of the earth.

If you develop that trust and respect that can give you a lot of leverage to be able to get things done.

You can't run a White House where you have members publicly shooting at one another while the president needs the support of a strong staff in order to be able to conduct policy.

When he becomes the issue, then that's a trouble.

Leon Panetta was assigned to moderate--mediate, if you will--between the fishing industry and the sanctuaries.

I wonder if this President realizes how much damage he's doing to the office of the presidency. When you're president of the United States, the most important thing you have as president of the United States is the trust of the American…

He's got to acknowledge that. He's got to be straightforward about what happened to this country and then he's got to take action to make sure it doesn't happen again.

It's unheard of. In terms of my experience in government, particularly with presidents, both Republican and Democrat, I think would have been extremely careful about any conversation of that kind.