In a short announcement this afternoon, former CIA Director James Woolsey took himself off the Trump transition team, effective immediately.

In a statement first reported by CNN, Woolsey's spokesman announced, "Effective immediately, Ambassador Woolsey is no longer a Senior Adviser to President-elect Trump or the transition,"

The statement went on to say, "He wishes the President-elect and his Administration great success in their time in office."

This was rather sudden and abrupt. If you watch the interview (above) he gave CNN's Jim Sciutto on Monday, Woolsey was trying hard to keep reality around him while denying Russian involvement in the hacks on the DNC. It was, to put it mildly, painful.

At one point he conceded that Russians were at least part of it, but clung to the notion that they might not have been the only ones to hack. That explanation defies logic and made him look like an idiot.

At another point in the interview, he says Trump might be "playing" the media about his relationship with Russia.

In response to Sciutto's follow-up question on that, he said, "There’s a possibility that he is, a little bit,”

And in Trump's defense, he continued on. "Why not? He’s not interfering with anything. He’s not talking about anything classified... This is a behavioral mode that he has perfected. He has a point, which is that it is entirely possible to have various definitions of hacking."

Perhaps the Trump team was not at all happy with that characterization of their warm relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Or perhaps Woolsey himself finally came to his senses and realized he was lying in interviews to protect Putin, and by extension, Trump.

It does appear that Woolsey was the one to cut ties, according to the Washington Post's Philip Rucker, who says he resigned after being cut out of intelligence talks with Flynn and Trump.

John Aravosis notes that it's a key loss for Trump.

… Woolsey is a former CIA director. He’s Trump’s ace in the hole, on this whole “don’t blame Russia” debate. Losing Woolsey is huge… https://t.co/IOdYsyC9ix — John Aravosis (@aravosis) January 5, 2017

… also possible that Trump saw the interview (or another) and was furious that Woolsey was not-quite defending him. This is great news... https://t.co/nVDKbwUa0G — John Aravosis (@aravosis) January 5, 2017

… finally, the news of Woolsey's departure comes immediately after we heard Trump was going to gut the CIA as punishment for CIA... https://t.co/QNL6g6ZrIk — John Aravosis (@aravosis) January 5, 2017

… agreeing that Russia was behind the hack. That two may have been the straw that broke woolsey's back. https://t.co/ml9P6AISgj — John Aravosis (@aravosis) January 5, 2017

Perhaps. Or maybe it was just crazy General Flynn being too crazy even for a former CIA director?