Former CIA officer Phil Mudd bashed President Donald Trump during a panel discussion with CNN's Don Lemon on Tuesday night.
Lemon asked Mud about why the president has been soft on the Saudi Arabia government over missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
"I got to ask you, and I hate to talk about this, there are people who knew him. Colleagues loved ones and it's horrific to hear these sort of details. Khashoggi was cut into pieces, reports say. The president accepts Saudi's denials at face value. Why?" Lemon asked.
"I mean, if you look at where the president's coming from, as we're talking about a moment ago, he likes to be portrayed as someone who can handle heavy hitters around the world, Putin, Kim Jong-un, Mohammad bin Salman," Mudd said.
He added, "Let me cut to the chase and get to some facts. There are questions the president could ask. What aircraft flew into Turkey? We should have the tail numbers of those. Who owns those aircraft? What's the background of the individuals who flew into Turkey?"
Mudd continued, "Do we know they work for the ministry of the interior? Do we have independent U.S. Intelligence about who ordered this operation? Have we talked to the Turks about whether they have audio from the operation and have they said that they saw cameras in the Saudi consulate when they looked at it over the past 48 hours"
"The president has to get off his fat a** and ask a couple basic investigative questions," Mudd said.
