On Saturday's edition of MSNBC's "AM Joy," former CIA Office of Technical Services' Chief of Disguise Jonna Mendez excoriated President Donald Trump for endangering a top-level U.S. spy in Russia.
"Have you ever, in your career in intelligence, heard of the president of the United States being considered a potential threat to the safety and identity of a highly-placed source in a country like Russia?" asked anchor Joy Reid.
"Never. This is unprecedented," said Mendez. "The fact that it was such a concern that the CIA thought it prudent to remove this man, an invaluable conduit into Putin's Russia and the decision making process, they would pull him out rather than risk what was going to happen to him."
"Just to be perfectly clear, this particular informant was highly placed, had access to the Kremlin. Was instrumental in the CIA's most explosive conclusion about Russia's interference campaign that Vladimir Putin ordered the attack on the election to help Donald Trump," said Reid. "That is a huge ringing bell in my head that this guy helped our guys, our good guys figure out that the Kremlin was helping Trump and now he's here under U.S. protection. Should — is that a worry to you?"
"You know ... when they're providing us with that information, we are promising them from the beginning, from day one, protection," said Mendez. "We will protect them as a source, and if it goes badly, we will pull them out and we will resettle them. There's a whole operational piece of the CIA that's set up to do that. This man always knew that we would ex-filtrate him if we needed to, but he would anticipate maybe coming here to live, he has come here now to hide for the rest of his life. He and his family are going to be worried that Putin and his ilk are going to come after them and they shouldn't be worried."
"Do you trust Donald Trump to be the person presiding over keeping him safe?" Reid pressed her.
"I would hope that Donald Trump is not the person," said Mendez. "I would hope that the Republican politicians around Donald Trump are not the people that are protecting this man. Politics has nothing to do with this man and the rest of his life. He provided what we needed, we're lucky that we had him. We've got the information that's necessary to make serious decisions. He should be able to live the rest of his life in the United States without this constant threat hanging over him."
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