(CNN) In a New York Times op-ed — headlined "Trump Is Being Manipulated by Putin. What Should We Do?" — Texas Republican Rep. Will Hurd writes of this week's summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin:

"The president's failure to defend the United States intelligence community's unanimous conclusions of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and condemn Russian covert counterinfluence campaigns and his standing idle on the world stage while a Russian dictator spouted lies confused many but should concern all Americans. By playing into Vladimir Putin's hands, the leader of the free world actively participated in a Russian disinformation campaign that legitimized Russian denial and weakened the credibility of the United States to both our friends and foes abroad."

That's a wow. Even Republicans with a long record of criticism directed at Trump — which is a near-total overlay with members who are retiring — haven't gone as far as Hurd does here, suggesting that Trump is being worked as an asset to Russia. The American president. Being actively manipulated by a foreign government with something short of altruistic goals.

Hurd's op-ed is all the more chilling because before he came to Congress in 2014, he was a CIA operative from 2002 to 2009. This isn't some random House member spouting off to get some attention and distance himself from Trump in a swing district. This is a guy who knows of what he speaks. And he is now convinced of what was totally unthinkable even a year ago. (Worth noting: Hurd is in a very swing-y district; Hillary Clinton won it by 4 points by 2016 and he is a major target for Democrats this fall.)

Writes Hurd: "Over the course of my career as an undercover officer in the C.I.A., I saw Russian intelligence manipulate many people. I never thought I would see the day when an American president would be one of them."

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