CNN counterterrorism analyst Phil Mudd said during a Monday morning CNN discussion about climate change that eating hamburgers will kill Americans.
"Tens of millions of Americans will wake up today and eat hamburgers for lunch; that’s going to kill them," said Mudd, the former director of the CIA Counterterrorism Center.
When asked how climate change related to intelligence and security concerns, Mudd said he believes climate change is a national security issue.
"If you look at people in my world talking about things like climate change, they talk about things like changing weather patterns, believe it or not, as a national security issue, because that has to do with water," Mudd said. "In places like the Middle East, water is an issue that people go to war over. But this is pretty simple. I think we are debating this. This is an — this is a leadership issue."
Mudd went on to hammer home his concern with hamburgers and criticize President Donald Trump.
"There’s a parallel here," he said. "The president comes into office and says we are withdrawing from climate change and we’re investing in coal. That’s going to kill us. Unless we get leadership that says we’ve got to take short term pain for the long term gain, which is something Americans don’t do when they eat hamburgers, we are not going to win this one. We need leadership on this issue."