CNN counterterrorism analyst Phil Mudd, who worked for the CIA and the FBI when Robert Mueller was the director, on Thursday told host Jake Tapper that "the government is going to kill" President Donald Trump "because he doesn't support them."



"Let me give you one bottom line as a former government official," Mudd began. "The government is going to kill this guy."



"[Trump] defends Vladimir Putin, their State Department, and CIA officers are coming home. And at Langley and in Foggy Bottom (State Dept headquarters), CIA and State they're saying, this is how you defend us? We saw the same thing in his transgender comments. What is the military saying to him on transgender? Show us the policy. You know what that means inside government, ain't going to happen. What did the Department of Justice say on Paul Manafort? You can say what you want, a judge told us we cause to search his home early in the morning because we don't trust the guy who was your campaign manager," he said.



"The government is going to kill this guy because he doesn't support them," Mudd declared.



Jake Tapper attempted to clear up Mudd's comments, "obviously, when you're talking about killing you're using that as a metaphor."



"What I'm saying is government -- people talk about the deep state -- when you disrespect government officials who've done 30 years, they're going to say, 'Really? You send Vladimir Putin sends U.S. officers home and you support him before us?" Mudd replied.



Transcript, via CNN of Thursday's broadcast of The Lead with Jake Tapper:





JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: I want to start, guys, with the comments that President Trump made when asked about the fact that in retaliation for the sanctions against Russia, Vladimir Putin expelled 755 U.S. diplomats and other personnel from the embassy in Moscow. Take a listen to what President Trump had to say.



(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)



TRUMP: No, I want to thank him because we're trying to cut down on payroll. And as far as I'm concerned, I'm very thankful that he let go of a large number of people because now we have a smaller payroll. There's no real reason for them to go back. So, I greatly appreciate the fact that they've been able to cut our payroll for the United States. We'll save a lot of money.



(END VIDEO CLIP)



TAPPER: I mean, first of all, it's not going to help cut payroll at all. That's just not how government budgets work. But beyond that, what Putin did was an anti-American action. Period. That's all it was. That's the definition of an anti-American action, and there President Trump is thanking him for carrying it out. NEERA TANDEN, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS PRESIDENT: Yes, I mean,



Americans versus the Russian interest, right? This is actually happening because of the sanctions. Putin said it is retaliation against America for what it did. He's expelling American diplomats and others, and the President is cheering him on. I mean, it is - it is a bizarre act for the American President to take the side of a foreign government against our own state department personnel who are being expelled.



TAPPER: And Amanda, when we first heard that he had said this, I think we all said - we all thought to ourselves, well, maybe he was joking, he was trying to be funny but there wasn't any obvious attempt at humor there.



AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, it looked like he was being fairly serious. Does he believe his own spin, I'm not sure, but that is the answer that he gave when asked about Americans leaving the country. I think the next time he should probably roll over and ask Putin to scratch his belly. I mean, this is an act of submission. There's no win for America. We don't have staff on the ground with a very important country not only for geopolitical reasons but because they meddled in our election and there's investigations going on. I can't accept that as an excuse and I think, other people should press him for a better answer.



TAPPER: What was your response Phil Mudd?



FMR. FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR TO ROBERT MUELLER PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: A couple of surprises. Let me give you one bottom line as a former government official. The government is going to kill this guy. He defends Vladimir Putin, their State Department, and CIA officers are coming home. And at Langley and in Foggy Bottom (State Dept headquarters), CIA and State they're saying, this is how you defend us? We saw the same thing in his transgender comments. What is the military saying to him on transgender? Show us the policy. You know what that means inside government, ain't going to happen. What did the Department of Justice say on Paul Manafort? You can say what you want, a judge told us we cause to search his home early in the morning because we don't trust the guy who was your campaign manager.



The government is going to kill this guy because he doesn't support them.