WATCH: MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace clobbers Trump's 'in-the-gutter war' against James Comey

MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace, who served George W. Bush as White House communications director, thwacked President Donald Trump for a "profound disintegration of norms" after the commander-in-chief tweeted that former FBI Director James Comey should be in jail.

"OK, so we've got a trivia question for you," Wallace said. "What do James Comey, Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Manning and people who burn flags all have in common?"

"According to the president, they should all be in jail," she answered. "It's just the latest example of a profound disintegration of norms, a process that's been playing out since the day Trump started his campaign."

Wallace noted former FBI Direct James Comey is waging an "asymmetrical, post-fact, in-the-gutter war" with President Trump.

The Deadline: White House host interviewed former federal prosecutor and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman.

"What do you make of someone from your line of work, the Justice Department, going to toe-to-toe with a president who fights dirty?" Wallace asked.

"I mean, it's sort of surreal," the former U.S. Attorney admitted. "Toe-to-toe is the word and there's a lot of coverage of it as if it's a cage match, Comey versus Trump."

"This is not normal," he continued. "This is not okay."

"It is not the job of the President of the United States to say who should be in jail and who shouldn't be in jail," Litman declared. "And that's even if what we were saying had any basis in fact, which it doesn't."

Litman, who teaches constitutional law, did find one "heartening" aspect of Monday's court hearing.

"Yes, it's anomalous and sensational, but it really is a kind of triumph of the rule of law there," he suggested. "It's kind of good news."

"We have the president against the porn star -- the porn star is going to win and she's going to win because the law is going to be applied faithfully by a single judge," he argued. "That's the way it's supposed to work, one way or another, even against the president."

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