Former assistant director for counterintelligence at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Frank Figliuzzi said on Thursday that President Donald Trump “thinks he’s a king,” Newsweek reports.
Figliuzzi went on the Mike Lupica Podcast to discuss what he claims is a crisis in American democracy caused by Trump and his allies.
According to the former FBI official, by repeatedly ignoring subpoenas issued by the United States Congress, Trump has made impeachment an inevitability.
“We don’t have three branches of equal government right now,” Figliuzzi said, adding that Trump appears to see himself as a “king.”
“We have a supreme executive president who thinks he’s a king.”
Figliuzzi issued a dire warning, suggesting that the president’s behavior is threatening to “kill” or, at the very least, change democracy in the United States.
“We don’t necessarily understand that this pot is heating up to the point that is going to kill us, in this case kill our democracy or at least our form of democracy,” the former FBI official added.
According to Figliuzzi, either Trump will be removed from office and replaced with someone else or the country will change irrevocably.
“The way this is headed is that we’re either going to have another president soon or we are going to have another form of democracy,” Figliuzzi said
“We are literally watching our democracy change in front of our eyes,” he added.
The former FBI official also offered criticism of Trump’s allies Attorney General William Barr, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, and lawyer Rudy Giuliani. He suggested that all of them have “lost their core values,” becoming corrupt because of their “ego[s]” and because there is “no accountability” in the Trump government.
Trump has long criticized Figliuzzi’s colleagues in the FBI, accusing the bureau of bias and suggesting that intelligence agencies are conspiring to remove him from office.
In a recent interview , the president attacked “the absolute scum at the top of the FBI,” vowing to continue his supposed fight against what he calls the deep state. Trump, he said, is fighting against the deep state, reforming both the FBI and the Justice Department and waging a war on what he claims are rogue elements within the federal government.
Trump’s alleged abuse of power has long disturbed lawmakers in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, which recently launched a formal impeachment inquiry.
BREAKING: Joe Biden declares his support for impeachment against President Trump:
“Donald Trump has violated his oath of office, betrayed this nation and committed impeachable acts.” – @mikememoli pic.twitter.com/nPkwdsDsjl
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 9, 2019
According to House Democrats, Trump used the power of his office to pressure the government of Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.
The commander in chief pressured Ukraine in order to damage Biden’s presidential bid, according to impeachment advocates.
Voters support impeachment as well, according to a new Fox News poll, which suggests that there has been a dramatic shift in public opinion. The poll says that 51 percent of Americans are in favor of both impeachment and removal.