In his first official visit to the top U.S. spy agency, U.S. President Donald Trump vowed Saturday that "radical Islamic terrorism" has to be eradicated "right now".
Trump told hundreds of staff of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) headquarters in Langley, Virginia, that the U.S. has to get rid of the Islamic State (IS), the terror group based in the Middle East that has launched terror attacks against Western countries in the past years.
"We have to get rid of IS, we have no choice," he told the audience.
Trump described "radical Islamic terrorism" as "evil" unseen before, adding that it should be "eradicated just off the face of the earth."
"But we gonna end it. It's time. It's time right now to end it," said Trump.
He did not offer details of his plan to fight terrorism, though he said the CIA would do a "phenomenal job" on this.
Trump, who was sworn in as the 45th U.S. President on Friday, strongly denied previous media reports that he was in feud with the intelligence community, which concluded that Russia helped him win the presidential race with hacking activities.
"There's nobody that feels stronger about the intelligence community" than he does, Trump stressed.
He scolded the U.S. media as "the most dishonest people" by reporting his feud with the intelligence community, although he previously criticized the intelligence agencies for leaking the reports that Russia may have "compromising materials" about him.
Trump also promised stronger support to the U.S. intelligence community than any other president did.
"I'm so behind you," Trump said, adding that maybe some time in the future the intelligence community will get more support than wanted.
But Trump's first day after becoming president was marred by widespread massive anti-Trump protests held across the U.S. and other parts of the world.
Over one million people Saturday took to the streets and staged rallies across the United States to protest against President Donald Trump's first full day as the 45th U.S. President.
