'Are the Trump people stupid?': CNN security expert claims McCabe firing has 'unleashed' him to go after the president

Appearing on a late night Don Lemon panel reacting to the breaking news that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had fired former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, an expert in intelligence and national security asked whether the firing was the result of Trump Administration "stupidity" that could ultimately blow up in their faces.

Speaking with CNN host, Julia Kayyem said she wasn't worried about McCabe's pension - that has been put in jeopardy by the last minute firing --  saying he will more than make up the difference with a tell-all book,  before adding that the Trump administration should be the ones who should be worried now that McCabe has been "unleashed."

"I want to get away from process, away from politics, away from you know just the gut wrenching feeling all of us feel for McCabe's pension," Kayyem began. "Trust me, he is going to be fine. There is a lot of book agents calling him right now. But let's talk about Mueller, because that's what this is about."

"Looking at what happened tonight outside the context of the Russia investigation, you're missing the big story here," she continued. "Because of McCabe's knowledge of the investigation early on since he was part of the investigation, and then, of course, his contemporaneous knowledge of why Comey was fired. Those two things are relevant not just for obstruction of justice but also for what the special prosecutor is looking for. So are the Trump people stupid? Because they have now unleashed McCabe."

Considering her own rhetorical question, Kayyem qualified it.

"I have to believe they are not," she conceded. "What they did is they weighed two things: firing McCabe and letting him be unleashed or trying to undermine him now because they know he knows a lot. They chose tonight,  and they chose to try to undermine a key witness who potentially has information against them."

"I don't think they're going to, you know, regret process this process; they knew this would happen and they had to choose," the CNN contributor continued. "They choose one of two bad options for a White House looking at an investigation by the special prosecutor that's getting closer and closer to the oval office."

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