'I thought I had seen it all': Former Trump official launches scathing attack on president's 'complicity' in America's COVID deaths

A former chief of staff of the Department of Homeland Security, serving during the Trump administration, has joined a chorus of criticsexpressing outrage following revelations in Bob Woodward's upcoming book, Rage.

Speaking as part of a panel segment that aired Thursday morning on CNN's New Day program, Miles Taylor expressed aggravation over the now well-publicized disclosure that Trump knew as early as February, 2020 that the COVID-19 virus was 'deadly stuff' and more serious than what the president was letting on in public.

"I spent two and a half years in this administration," Taylor said.  "And I thought I had seen it all. There's no amount of hyperbole that does this justice. The president of the United States has effectively admitted his complicity in the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans -- something I don't think any of us thought we would be saying on live television. But it's the truth. And you don't have to take my word for it."

Taylor then went on to place blame on Trump's circle of enablers.

"The people around the president, as recently as yesterday, I met with people who at senior levels at the White House have been charged with helping to manage the response. They also feel like the president's poorly mismanaged response to this crisis resulted in the deaths, needlessly of tens of thousands of Americans," said Taylor.

Then, Taylor went on to point out that the administration willfully ignored plans the government already had in place for fighting pandemics.

"Look, we can point back to something we developed in the Bush administration ...15 years ago... we developed pandemic response plans that should have been followed to the 'T.' The playbook was on the shelf. It was ready for him to use. But because he politicized the response -- and because more than anything he was worried about his re-election -- they didn't follow those playbooks. And again, we have dead Americans because of that failure. I think that's what people should be concerned about and Americans should be thinking about that in the run-up to November 3rd."

Watch the segment below::