OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is worried about being placed on former President Donald Trump’s “enemies list.”
During an interview on CNN, host Abby Phillip asked Clapper if he believed Trump had an “enemies list” and that he and other former high-ranking officials could be targetted if Trump takes office.
Phillip asked: “Tonight, the former president of the United States, who is currently a candidate for office again, is suggesting that the ongoing, outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff should be e**cuted. Donald Trump referred to reports that General Mark Milley was going to war in China if Trump decided to launch an attack, posting on social media that this is an act so egregious that in times gone by, the punishment would have been d**th. Let’s discuss this with CNN National Security Analyst James Clapper. He’s the former Director of National Intelligence. Director Clapper, Trump saying that he will, would e**cute, or that we should e**cute the nation’s top general. Have we become numb to all of this?”
“Well, yeah, I mean, since we have, you know, this is shocking, stunning, despicable, egregious, et cetera, but not surprising. It’s really reprehensible for that to have been said. Joe Milley served this country with a long and with great distinction, 43 years. Like all of us, he took the oath, and it bears repeating,” Clapper began.
“I solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. Not to the President, not to a king, dictator, not to any individual, but to the Constitution. Now, there’ll be all kinds of postmortems and critiques and coulda, woulda, shoulda about General Milley’s service. But as Chairman of the JCS, and he will go down in history as one of the most consequential and also one of the most controversial Chairman we’ve ever had. I’m quite sure that many of his peers are just as glad that they weren’t in the position he was. I think he navigated some very difficult shows very well, and the country is in debt, in my view,” Clapper added.
“You make an interesting point that you, as a member of the National Security Intelligence Community, perhaps were used to Trump attacking the intelligence community, but to attack the military, do you think that is a shift here? Are you surprised to see Trump going there?” Phillip asked.
Clapper responded: “No, I’m not. You know, his definition of treason is anyone who criticizes him or whom he perceives as disloyal. That is really not the legal definition of treason at all. So, he’ll lash out at anyone, attack anyone whom he views as not loyal, not sufficiently loyal to him. Certainly, we took hits in the intelligence community, and now, of course, he’s directed us toward the military as an institution and towards General Milley, personally.”
“Yeah. Can I ask you — he, in a recent profile, General Milley raised the possibility that he thought if Trump was re-elected, he would throw his opponents in jail? He said that he would be at the top of the list. Do you think that that’s a real concern, and are you concerned that you could be on Trump’s enemies list?” Phillip asked.
“Well, sure. I think there are probably a lot of people that are potentially on such a list. And again, that’s reprehensible. I think General Milley’s comment was he didn’t think President Trump would be re-elected. Well, I’m not so sure about that. So yeah, that’s a… That’s a real concern for many of us,” Clapper concluded.
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