Former Acting CIA Director John McLaughlin acknowledged and praised the "deep state" for any involvement that led to the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.



"There is something unique you have to agree that now the impeachment inquiry is underway, sparked by a complaint from someone within the intelligence community, it feeds the president’s concern, an often-used term about a deep state being there to take him out?" moderator Margaret Brennan asked.





"Thank God for the deep state," McLaughlin quipped.



"Everyone here has seen this progression of diplomats and intelligence officers and White House people trooping up to Capitol Hill right now and saying these are doing their duty and responding to a higher call," McLaughlin said. "It doesn't surprise me -- with all of the people who knew what was going on here, it took an intelligence officer to step forward and say something about it, which was the trigger that then unleashed everything else."



"Now why does that happen?" he explained. "I'll tell the American people why that happens. This is the institution in the U.S. government, that with all of its flaws and it makes mistakes, it is institutionally committed to objectivity and telling the truth. It is one of the few institutions in Washington that is not in a chain of command that makes or implements policy. Its whole job is to speak the truth, it's engraved in marble in the lobby."



McLaughlin made the remarks Wednesday at an event hosted by the Michael V. Hayden Center and Schar School of Policy and Government focused on election security that also featured former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell on the panel.



Brennan also embraced the term "deep state" in describing Trump's relationship with the CIA and intelligence community.



(via Daily Caller)