Ex-CIA operative hints Trump's 'aging mind' to blame for Helsinki disaster: 'He can't absorb new facts'

Former CIA operative Robert Baer on Thursday suggested that President Donald Trump seemed so agreeable with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week because he has a deteriorating mental state.

During a CNN panel discussion, Baer said he was floored by Trump's unwillingness on Monday to say he put more trust in his own intelligence agencies than in Russian President Vladimir Putin -- and he started by chalking it up to Trump's inexperience as a politician.

"He just didn't get it," Baer said. "This is what happens when you elect an amateur to the presidency... he is particularly stubborn."

Baer then shocked host Kate Bolduan by speculating on Trump's mental health as a possible explanation for his behavior.

"I suspect he has an aging mind and can't absorb new facts," he said.

"Really, Bob?" Bolduan asked him, seemingly taken aback by his psychological diagnosis of the president. "Really? Really?"

"I do," Baer confirmed, before pivoting to potential financial ties that Trump might have with Russian oligarchs who are linked to Putin.

"There's no evidence of those two things," said a frustrated Bolduan.

Baer, however, was defiant.

"He cannot be convinced by his own intelligence services when the information was so good," he said. "There's something wrong here. Either he's speaking on behalf of Putin as a business partner... or he simply doesn't understand it, there's no in between."

Watch the video below.