'Preparation of the battlefield': Intelligence expert likens Fox News' rhetoric to 'psychological warfare'

MSNBC intelligence analyst Malcolm Nance on Monday told "The Beat" host Ari Melber that Fox News’ descriptor of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation as a “coup” is “almost psychological warfare.”

As Melber explained, Fox News has begun casually tossing around the word “coup” in reference to Mueller’s investigation—particularly surrounding concerns of bias within the FBI. According to Melber, Fox is trying convince viewers that the “nonpartisan rule of law in America is itself a coup against Trump.”

“They want to make you lose faith that we can get through this as a Republic,” Melber said.

Nance, a former United States Navy senior chief petty officer and intelligence expert told Melber he’s “very concerned about the use of the rhetoric around” Mueller’s investigation.

“This is almost psychological warfare—preparation of the battlefield,” Nance explained.

They’re trying to say that the entire framework of the Unites States government’s system of removing a president or finding out dirt about a president, that in itself is tantamount to a military force removing people in power,” he continued.

“This is not a coup, and this language is dangerous,” Nance added.

The counter-terrorism expert added that although Fox News has “a right to free speech,” the network does not have a right to “sedition.”

“They don’t have a right to undermine the Constitution of the United States,” Nance argued.

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