Fmr CIA Director Panetta: The Way Trump Behaves, It’s a ‘Clear Signal That The Russians Have Something On Him’

On Tuesday night, former CIA Director Leon Panetta weighed in on President Donald Trump‘s remarks he made at the Helsinki summit alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Panetta began by expressing skepticism of Trump’s clarification that he “misspoke” at his press conference where he appeared to take Putin’s word over the US intel agencies on whether Russia meddled in the 2016 election, saying it was “pretty clear” that Trump was saying what he thought in Helsinki and that the “damage has been done” that he “hasn’t repaired the damage” despite his correction.

He told MSNBC anchor Brian Williams that he thought Trump’s one-on-one meeting with Putin, our “primary adversary,” sets a “terrible precedent” for the presidency and believed the president is “going to pay for it” down the road.

“This is about the truth. And presidents who underestimate the American people and think that they can tell them whatever they want to tell them and that the American people will accept any lie that they tell them really does underestimate the American people and weaken himself,” Panetta told Williams. “I don’t think there’s any question this president received important briefings time and time again that laid out the case how the Russians specifically took steps to interfere with our election process. The intelligence community has clearly presented that case. 17 intelligence agencies agree that the Russians were involved. And in addition to that, you now have 12 indictments of Russian military officers who were involved in that effort to undermine our election process. There is no question in my mind that the president of the United States knew the truth. And the truth is that the Russians were behind this.”

Brian Williams told Panetta that it was hard to watch the Helsinki press conference and “not think” that Russia doesn’t have something on Trump.

“What do you think, at long last, it might be?” Williams asked the former Obama official.

“Well, there is no question that there is something here that intimidates the president of the United States,” Panetta responded. “This president basically coddled Mr. Putin and it was clear that he was intimidated by that situation. Whether the Russians have something on this president or not, no one really knows, but the way he behaves, there is a clear signal that the Russians have something on him.”

And when asked if he agrees with former CIA Director John Brennan that Trump’s remarks were “treasonous,” Panetta suggested that it was more “incompetence” since no laws were broken at the press conference.

Watch the clip above, via MSNBC.