Is it a sign of Deep State panic to imply (and then weasel out) that President Trump is an agent of Russia?  Or could it be personal guilt?

Either way, that explosive charge is what the former U.S. intelligence chief James Clapper made yesterday on CNN:

"I think this past weekend is illustrative of what a great case officer Vladimir Putin is. He knows how to handle an asset, and that's what he's doing with the President," said James Clapper, the director of national intelligence under President Barack Obama, on CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper."

"You have to remember Putin's background. He's a KGB officer. That's what they do. They recruit assets," Clapper added. "And I think some of that experience and instincts of Putin has come into play here in his managing of a pretty important account for him."

Clapper made clear he was only speaking figuratively when referring to Trump as a Russian asset. 

CNN's tweet on Clapper's statement omitted the part about speaking figuratively.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper: Vladimir Putin "knows how to handle an asset and that's what he's doing with the President" https://t.co/1bOnWU9hVI

— CNN (@CNN) December 18, 2017

After President Donald Trump spoke by phone on Sunday from a cabin at Camp David to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, the press release describing their call featured something unusual: an exclamation point.

The theatric punctuation seemed designed to underscore the cheery tenor of the conversation, during which Putin thanked Trump for the CIA's help in thwarting a terror plot on St. Petersburg, Russia. 

Trump, the White House said, congratulated "the entire intelligence community on a job well done!"

Wait a minute!  I thought that the left believes that Trump is too critical of the intelligence community, demoralizing the dedicated personnel who risk their lives to protect us... (you know the drill).  Now his praise is proof that he is a tool in the hands of Putin.  Or something...

Clapper has personal reasons to respond as he did to the phone call between Russia's Putin and our POTUS.  Recall that he was the chief of U.S. intelligence when the warning about Tamerlan Tsarnaev provided by Russian intelligence was ignored, resulting in the horror of the Boston Marathon bombing.  Clapper has never been held to account for the blood spilled thanks to the negligence of his operation.  Nor has he been prosecuted for perjury for his false statements made under oath in testimony before Congress on June 21, 2013.