Trump's 'Deep State' conspiracy is a 'fascist concept' aimed at undermining democracy: Ex-CIA officer

Former intelligence officer Glenn Carle doesn't think much of President Donald Trump's efforts to muddy the waters of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election -- but he believes Trump's ultimate goal is something much darker.

Writing in the Daily Beast, Carle says that the president is doing everything in his power to attack and discredit any agency or organization that might hold him accountable for his actions.

"The idea of the 'Deep State' opposing elected leaders and the rule of law is -- I will be blunt here -- a fascist concept, which is intended to discredit the institutions of democracy," he writes. "It is done, precisely, so that a 'Leader' can represent the 'people' without the encumbrance of law or representative institutions."

However, Carle believes that this effort to intimidate law enforcement officials out of investigating the president and his associates can only end in failure.

"I can state with confidence that the reaction in the FBI and the CIA to the Nunes memorandum will be disdain for what Madison calls, the 'vicious arts' in it," he writes. "It will be seen for what it truly is: an attempt to protect what appears to be the Trump entourages’ ties to Russian intelligence. And there will be irritation at the groundless slurs it casts on FBI officers, and anger at the harm it could cause the FBI, the CIA, and the Department of Justice."

Carle is best known as the author of The Interrogator, a memoir recounting what he later came to believe was the immoral and wrongful torture of a suspected al-Qaeda agent.