Trump's 'divisive' new hire will 'inject chaos' into the impeachment process: ex-White House official

Appearing on CNN's "New Day" to explain the next stage of the impeachment proceedings, the former White House press secretary under Bill Clinton claimed a new adviser to Donald Trump was likely hired to inject "chaos into the process."

Speaking with CNN hosts Alisyn Camerota and John Avlon, Joe Lockhart was asked about the recent hiring of Mark Penn, a former Clinton pollster, who has reportedly been counseling the White House on political strategy.

"Given the amount of information that came out just during the last inquiry, are you surprised that, according to CNN's polling, that impeachment basically was steady at 50 percent from the previous month," host Avlon asked. "And I've got to ask you this too, what do you make of Mark Penn, your former Clinton colleague going to the White House to give advice to President Trump?"

"I'm not completely surprised about there being no real movement because, remember, there was a big move between late spring until the Ukraine story happened," Lockhart replied. "This is an unusual case where the confession came first, the transcript. with the president admitting he did it. And then we just built lots of evidence to prove yes he did it, even though he confessed."

Turning to the hiring of Penn, Lockhart added, "I don't expect -- on Mark Penn -- as a partisan Democrat, I'm glad he's advising the president. He's a very divisive guy, not well-liked among his peers and he will inject chaos into the process."

"Oh, just what we need," co-host Camerota laughed.

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