Appearing on an MSNBC panel discussing a series of President Donald Trump's tweets launched Tuesday morning, a CIA veteran ridiculed the increasingly desperate tone of the president's words, saying he is panicking.
Speaking with host Craig Melvin, National Security Analysts Ned Price -- who spent 11 years in the CIA -- said Trump's attack on James Comey and Hillary Clinton indicate he fears the Mueller investigation is closing in on him.
On Saturday, Price speculated that the leak about George Papadopoulos boasting to an Australian diplomat that the Trump campaign had dirt on Hillary Clinton was a warning shot from the FBI.
“Timing of this story is interesting, coming 4 days after Trump’s false dossier tweets, which also impugned the FBI. The FBI largely treated the Trump campaign & subsequently the Trump presidency w kid gloves. But this may indicate the gloves are coming off,” he tweeted.
On Tuesday, Price asserted that the leak may have had its intended effect.
"Ned, a week earlier, the president told the New York Times reporter this, in regard to the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation. 'I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department, but for purposes of hopefully thinking I'm going to be treated fairly, I've stayed uninvolved with this particular matter,'" host Melvin read before asking, "Is that bluster or do you think that he'll try to exercise that power?"
"Well, Craig, I think we've already seen indications that President Trump won't be able to keep his hands off this investigation when it comes to Uranium One," Price replied. "He's already voiced his input into that investigation, releasing material that was previously held private by an FBI source involved in that matter."
"I think the broader point of all of this is that these are not the words of a president. The tweet this morning was not the words of a president" he stated. "They were the words of a man who was running scared. He's running scared from an independent FBI and Department of Justice."
"So the question becomes: why does President Trump feel the need to be so hands on, not only in this investigation but also in other investigations?" he proposed. "And it suggests to me that President Trump feels that he has something to hide. If you add the firing of James Comey, the attempt to get his top national security aides to claim there was no collusion, it paints a picture of just that. Not only of potential collusion, but also certainly what appears to be obstruction of justice."
You can watch the video below via MSNBC:
