During a discussion on the House Intelligence Committee hearings on the connection between the Trump White House and the Russians, a MSNBC panelist jumped in to note that -- for all of the revelations that came out in FBI Director James Comey's testimony -- the head of the NSA took a powerful shot at President Donald Trump.
Speaking with host Steve Kornacki and Huffington Post senior politics editor Sam Stein, Axios national political reporter Jonathan Swan noted the damage Trump has created within the intelligence community as well as with U.S. allies.
"I might phrase this badly, but it's kind of the essential truth which is that the intelligence community in some ways is the greatest existential threat to the Trump administration," Swan began. "I'm not saying that they're hostile to the intelligence community and some are concerned about the leaking, but they see this as probably the thing above all others that could bring down Donald Trump."
"We can't dismiss the role that Trump himself is playing in this, right?" Stein replied. "Had he not two Saturdays ago decided to roll out of bed and send a tweet accusing President Barack Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower, a lot of the mess -- half of the story is about that allegation -- we wouldn't be talking about it."
"It wouldn't be distracting or taking up the time of the intel communities," Stein continued. "The intel community is serving as sort of a, I don't know whatever you want to say with respect to the Trump administration, but Trump is creating his own problems as well."
"That's absolutely right," Swan remarked. "And I think there was quite a stunning moment today which has sort of been buried under a lot of the other news. The director of the National Security Agency called out the president for complicating two key relationships, Germany and Britain. I mean, that was an amazing moment."
Watch the video below via MSNBC:
