CNN national security analyst Asha Rangappa said on Thursday that President Trump’s lies about his involvement in a Moscow real estate project are not only “directly related” to Russian interference in the 2016 election, but demonstrate that Vladimir Putin has kompromat on the president.

“At every step by keeping it secret, Russia has had leverage over him, has had, essentially, kompromat,” said Rangappa. “And every lie that’s told to keep it secret has been even more leverage. This is a national security issue and that is what Mueller is investigating.”

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“And Putin continues to have leverage now going into future meetings,” chimed in CNN legal analyst Paul Callan. “What does Putin have? What people are in the Soviet Union who can actually ratify Cohen’s claims here?”

“Putin has a lot of leverage to use against the president in future negotiations,” he added.

Watch the video below.