CNN analyst says Trump is the 'leader of a terrorist organization'



A CNN national security analyst on Tuesday called President Donald Trump the "leader of a terrorist organization," calling for the "complete isolation" of a president 74 million Americans voted for in the 2020 election.

Juliette Kayyem, a lecturer at Harvard University and former member of the Obama administration's Homeland Security Advisory Council, appeared on a CNN panel with Jim Sciutto and Poppy Harlow, during which she made the case that Trump is the "spiritual" and "operational" leader of a "domestic terrorism effort."

"Trump is the spiritual, but I will also say operational leader of this domestic terrorism effort. He tells them where to go. He tells them what to do. He tells them why they're angry," Kayyem charged.

"Trump is the spiritual leader for domestic terrorists and he is their operational leader. He tells them what to do… https://t.co/xaREVClYNu
— Juliette Kayyem (@Juliette Kayyem)1610466749.0

She argued that the United States government needs to begin a counterterrorism effort against elements of the president's supporters who participated in the violent riots at the Capitol building Jan. 6, during which five people died, and that such an effort requires going after Trump first.

"And so we need to start at the top, like any counterterrorism effort, which is total isolation of the president of the United States. Impeachment, yes. 25th Amendment, yes. Deplatforming, yes. All of the above. No money. No access to campaign funds," Kayyem said.

She called for Trump's "complete isolation" because Trump, "as the leader of a terrorist organization," will have a more difficult time recruiting followers if he is "viewed as a loser."

"He's going to have his radical elements. We will arrest them, we will isolate them. But what we have to make sure is that Donald Trump does not have a second act. I know I sound incredibly harsh right now calling the president this, but we are in the tactical response right now. Enough with the 'let's unity' and stuff, this is a tactical effort right now to make sure that we protect American citizens and, of course, the next president of the United States."

Kayyem laid out her argument in more detail in a column published by the Atlantic Tuesday in which she accused the president of being a "rallying point for a coalition of theocrats, internet fantasists, white supremacists, and various other authoritarians who are in no way committed to peaceful transitions of power."

"The way to unite this country is to isolate acts of violence—and a leader who incites it—from legitimate expression," Kayyem wrote. "Trump was a north star for a certain kind of radical. Americans will be safer the more that star loses its shine."

Harvard professor and CNN analyst pushes conspiracy theory that Russian spies infiltrated Walter Reed Medical Center



Harvard professor and CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem says that it's very possible that Russian agents were able to infiltrate Walter Reed Medical Center in order to obtain classified information about President Donald Trump and his fight against the coronavirus.

Trump announced Friday that he had been diagnosed with COVID-19.

He subsequently spent about three days for treatment in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

What are the details?

On Twitter, Kayyem — a professor in international security at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and a CNN analyst — said that it is highly likely that Russian agents were able to glean more information about the president's battle with the coronavirus than Americans — and through nefarious channels.

"It is very likely that Russian intelligence agencies — through signal and human intel sources at Walter Reed, etc — have more information about the President's condition than we do," Kayyem tweeted Saturday afternoon.

Kayyem used the hashtag #doctorslietoo to hammer home her point.

It is very likely that Russian intelligence agencies -- through signal and human intel sources at Walter Reed, etc… https://t.co/wFbQ8nD6kc
— Juliette Kayyem (@Juliette Kayyem)1601744234.0

After a wide variety of social media users pointed out their qualms with head-scratching tweet, Kayyem doubled down.

When further pressed by conservative commentator Stephen L. Miller, who simply shared Kayyem's sentiments and captioned them "CNN analyst," Kayyem responded, "Yep. What part of this don't you believe: that Trump team is lax on security and vulnerable or that Russia isn't interested in Trumps [sic] health leading to election they are interfering in. Keep doing what you are doing. It's working so well for America and the hospitalized Trump."

Yep. What part of this don’t you believe: that Trump team is lax on security and vulnerable or that Russia isn’t i… https://t.co/fvyvQvLVaI
— Juliette Kayyem (@Juliette Kayyem)1601759851.0

What else?

According to Campus Reform, Heritage Foundation fellow James Carafano — an expert in national security — says the idea that Russians would be spying on the president's medical condition is illogical, and that the Russians are simply not capable of quickly pulling off a caper to that degree.

"The Russians are not ten feet tall," he told the outlet. "The notion that Trump gets rushed to Walter Reed and the Russians put together some kind of sophisticated intelligence operation is probably close to zero. ... The notion that they can just throw something together doesn't pass the laugh test."

Carafano added, "I would imagine, actually, the Russians probably doing the same thing we're doing, which is reading what the doctors are saying. The notion you would cultivate a unit resource on twenty-four hours' notice is nuts. The capabilities the Russians have are classified, so if this professor has any knowledge whatsoever of what Russia's syncing capabilities are, that's really interesting."