Well, this is assuring -- NOT!

Former Intelligence Chief James Clapper: Putin Is Handling Trump Like A Russian ‘Asset’

“We have to remember Putin’s background. He’s a KGB officer.”


Vladimir Putin is cultivating Donald Trump as if the U.S. president is a Russian asset, according to former intelligence chief James Clapper. 

 “[Putin] knows how to handle an asset, and that’s what he’s doing with the president,” Clapper said Monday on CNN. 

 Clapper, who served as director of national intelligence under President Barack Obama, called the Russian president a “great case officer.” 

 “You’re saying that Russia is handling President Trump as an asset?” CNN’s Jim Sciutto asked. 

“That seems to be... that’s the appearance to me,” replied Clapper. 

 Later in the conversation, Sciutto circled back to the “asset” comments. 

 “I’m saying this figuratively,” Clapper clarified, adding: “We have to remember Putin’s background. He’s a KGB officer. That’s what they do. They recruit assets, and I think some of that experience and instincts of Putin is coming to play here in his managing a pretty important account for him, if I could use that term, with our president.”