The episode also highlights how emotionally out of control Trump is. He lashes out with tweets, rails at aides and vilifies the media. This is not a rational person exercising good judgment. The effect on morale in the executive branch, Congress and Republicans more generally is profound. For our allies, it is terrifying. "It is sending a terrible message out there," said former CIA director and defense secretary Leon Panetta. "I can tell you, based on my own conversations with people abroad, that they are very concerned about the administration, about the president. They are concerned about whether he truly is going to be committed to the kind of world leadership that we have seen the United States provide." He added that "every time these things happen, every time he tweets, every time these issues come up that indicate that  you know, there's obviously something to this Russian issue, and the administration is not cooperating, when that happens, when he accuses a past president of wiretapping, without any evidence of that being the case, it makes us vulnerable."