"Overnight the president hurled fresh attacks on the Russia investigation and those who helped launch it," CNN's John Berman said.

"You heard the name there from the president, Andrew McCabe. And joining us now is the fired former FBI director Andy McCabe. Thank you for being with us. When you hear the president say that, what's your reaction?"

"You know, I've been listening to the president say insanely stupid things for years now, about me personally, about my organization, and about the investigation we undertook to find out if the president posed a threat to national security. I won't get down in the weeds with the president and exchange insults on Twitter or on TV or anywhere else. But the question we should be asking is, why do we have a president who feels necessary to attack individuals?

"Individuals, private citizens, individuals who serve in our government. To attack people personally when he's scared of the truth that they have to offer, I think that's the more concerning question here. And unfortunately it's one I can't answer for you. But I think we saw another example of that last night," McCabe said.

"You can't answer it. What do you suspect the answer is?"

"As I said, I think the president is afraid. The president is clearly very concerned about the Russia investigation. He has been since its inception. He has good reason to be concerned about it," McCabe said.

"I think we've all seen now with the release of the Mueller report that there was substantial reason to believe that the president and those around him conducted themselves inappropriately and in many cases illegally.The Mueller investigation, the special counsel investigation resulted in numerous convictions of the president's associates. so very clearly not a witch hunt. and ultimately exposed, I think, 11 different categories of obstructive activity engaged in by the president himself. Not to mention the fact that it conclusively proved the meddling of the government of Russia in our democratic process and what's described as a vast and effective campaign.

"So you know, I think those are all conclusions that concern the president greatly. It's unfortunate that he responds to them by attacking individuals rather than by buttressing and supporting the system of democracy and democratic elections we relay upon."