Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said he believes President Donald Trump feels the walls closing in on him as a result of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Clapper made his comments on Friday during an interview on CNN’s "New Day."
He said that the "irrationality of some of the things (Trump) is saying in his tweets, at least tell me that, you know, the walls are kind of crashing in on him."
Clapper cited the guilty verdict in the case against former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and the plea bargain arrangement by Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen.
"I think that more and more, he’s legally thinking that he feels like he is in jeopardy," Clapper said. "I think what he is trying to do, to use a military expression, is prep the battlefield for taking some action later. In the meantime, to the maximum extent he can, (he’s) undermining the credibility of the investigation."
Clapper has been a frequent critic of the president.
"I think that the common denominator among all of us (in the intelligence community) that have been speaking up . . . is genuine concern about the jeopardy and threats to our institutions and values, although we may express that in different ways," he said during another recent interview.. "I think that’s what really what this is about."
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