Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Monday suggested Vladimir Putin is handling Donald Trump “as an asset,” arguing the Russian president’s “theatric gesture of a phone call” to thank his American counterpart shows the ex-KGB officer is “managing a pretty important account.”

Putin called Trump Sunday to thank the president for the U.S. intelligence community’s help in thwarting an ISIS-inspired attack in St. Petersburg. Clapper said the move was “illustrative of what a great case officer Vladimir Putin is.”

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“He knows how to handle an asset and that’s what he’s doing with the president,” Clapper said, later insisting he meant the term “figuratively.”

“That’s the appearance to me,” Clapper continued. “We’ve shared intelligence with Russians for a long time … although my experience with them has been pretty much a one-way street. We share with them, and they don’t give much back.”

Clapper called Putin’s call to Trump a “theatric gesture of the phone call to thank President Trump for something that kind of goes on below the radar.”

The former DNI told CNN if you look at Putin’s past as a KGB officer, “that’s what they do, they recruit assets,” and his communiqués. with Trump proves he’s “managing a pretty important account.”

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper: Vladimir Putin "knows how to handle an asset and that's what he's doing with the President" https://t.co/1bOnWU9hVI — CNN (@CNN) December 18, 2017