Ex-acting CIA director tells MSNBC: Russia carried out its 'most effective covert operation in decades'

The Russian effort to disrupt the American political process has worked beyond the country's wildest dreams, says a former acting CIA director who served under the George W. Bush administration.

In an interview with Chris Jansing on MSNBC, McLaughlin explained that Russian efforts to interfere with our presidential election have sowed chaos and created an atmosphere of mistrust that is harming our government's ability to properly function.

"What we're seeing here is the most effective covert operation that Russia has carried out in decades," he said of Russia's campaign to leak damaging information about Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign. "They messed with our election. As a result of that, we now have both parties fighting each other, we have our Congress immobilized, we have war between Congress and the White House."

McLaughlin also called out House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) for his late-night escapades in which he received an exclusive intelligence briefing on White House grounds that purportedly offered proof that members of the Trump administration may have had their communications incidentally collected by U.S. intelligence agencies during the 2016 campaign.

"This committee cannot function in oversight anymore," McLaughlin said, arguing that Nunes had completely compromised the House's ability to properly investigate Russia's role in interfering with the election.

Watch the full interview below.