Watch: Former CIA operative warns Trump’s attacks on the FBI are a ‘bait and switch’
Former CIA operative turned CNN intelligence strategist Phil Mudd explained Friday that President Donald Trump’s own tweets might be an admission of guilt about the CNN report this week.
“He is confirming the reporting and he’s doing something more remarkable, Wolf,” Mudd began. “In the midst of his comments, tweets, about the FBI, how many people, including the tweeter-in-chief from the oval office, are talking about what happened several months ago, that there was Russian involvement in USA election. We have a bait and switch here.”
Mudd said that the media has been responsible for bringing foreign wars to the screens of Americans and now coverage of Russian involvement in an American election. “And what does the president do?” he asked. “He denigrates one of the most respectable institutions, the FBI.”
He explained that Trump’s actions reveal several important things to any intelligent agent. First, that any FBI employee must be cautious dealing with anything even remotely political because the agent might get thrown under the bus. He explained this can happen even though it’s the FBI’s responsibility to prosecute federal laws. Second, Mudd cautioned that the White House should think again if it wants the FBI to investigate the Russian collusion while also attacking the FBI.
“Be careful,” Mudd said the FBI might be thinking. “We’re coming at you.” In fact, Mudd said that they might even redouble their investigations because “the president is like a bullfighter holding out a red cape to the American people.”
Watch the full panel discussion below: