Rachel Maddow’s Brilliant Interview With John Brennan Showed Why Trump Is Running Scared

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow did a deep and detailed interview with John Brennan and the picture that his answers painted showed why Trump is running scared from the Mueller investigation.

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One exchange between Maddow and Brennan captured why Trump is so scared:

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Brennan: I know what the Russians did in interfering in the election. I have 100% confidence in what they did. For Mr. Trump to stand on that stage in Helsinki with all the world’s eyes upon him and he doesn’t understand why would the Russians interfere in the elections. He’s given them a pass time after time after time and keeps referring to it as a witch-hunt and bogus and, to me, this was an attack against the foundational principle of our republic the right of all Americans to choose their elected leaders.

For Mr. Trump to so cavalierly so dismiss that, yes, sometimes my Irish comes out in my tweets and I did say that it rises to and exceeds the level of high crimes and misdemeanors and nothing short of treasonous because he had the opportunity there to be able to say to the world that this is something that happened. It should never, ever happen, if Russia tries at all to do it, they’re going to pay serious price for it. I don’t expect Mr. Putin to acknowledge it. He is going to deny, deny, deny. But for the president of the United States to continue on this issue, I think, does a great injustice and a disservice to the men and women of the intelligence law enforcement community and does a great disservice to the citizens of the United States. And that’s why I said it was nothing short of treasonous. I didn’t mean that he committed treason. But it was a term that I used, nothing short of treasonous.

Maddow: But you didn’t mean that he committed treason, though.

Brennan: It was nothing short of treasonous. That’s the term I used.

Maddow: If we diagram the sentence, nothing short means it’s treason. I mean, the reason I’m bringing this out is because when you say, I know what the Russians did and when you knowing what the Russians did observing the president’s behavior, you go to the word treason and suggest that you think that the president may be serving a foreign country rather than our own.

Brennan: Well, yeah. I think he has crossed the line repeatedly in terms of his failure to fulfill the responsibility of the office. And to look Putin square in the eye and say, this should never, ever happen again.

Brennan later said in the same interview that he was glad that Trump yanked his security clearance because it served as a wake up that caused people to take a look around and see what is going on.

John Brennan said that he didn’t say that Trump committed treason, but Maddow broke apart his statement and it means that Trump committed treason. The Maddow/Brennan interview, when taken in total, provided a perfect snapshot of why Trump is running scared. John Brennan knows what the Russians did for Trump, so Trump is trying to discredit Brennan.

Maddow and Brennan’s discussion went beyond impeachable offenses and to the sort of betrayal of the country that the United States has never seen from a president.

The criticism gets under Trump’s skin, but it is what people like John Brennan know that has this president living in fear.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association