CNN national security analyst and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said the "assault on truth" by President Trump and his White House is a bad thing for our democracy. Clapper cited the RAND Corporation characterizing the Trump White House of having a bad case of "truth decay."



In an interview with CNN's Don Lemon on Thursday, Clapper also said Trump is being played by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the same manner as North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un







DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Mick Mulvaney conceded that there was a quid pro quo only to come out later denying what we all heard him say. The White House has a huge truth problem, don't you think?



JAMES CLAPPER, FMR. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Yes, they have. Well, this is another example, Don, of what some months ago the RAND Corporation aptly and correctly characterize as a bad case of truth decay that we have in this country. This started the very first day of the administration with Sean Spicer lying about the size of the crowd in the Mall. And that is continued to just got more brazen and more frequent. And this assault on the truth is a bad thing for our democracy or any democracy.