Retired four-star General Barry McCaffrey says Michael Flynn “has a mental health problem” after he endorsed the idea of a Myanmar-style military coup in the US.
Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser has come under fire for telling a QAnon conference that the toppling of the US government “should” happen.
During a question and answer session, Mr Flynn was asked by an audience member “why what happened in Myanmar can’t happen here?”
“No reason,” Flynn replied to approving shouts from the crowd at the “For God & Country Patriot Roundup” in Texas.
“It should happen.”
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Gen McCaffrey told MSNBC that Mr Flynn’s “dangerous rhetoric” was “harmful” to the US.
“This is putting the country at risk," he said.
“I have never heard anything like this, probably in the last hundred years. This kind of, just completely irresponsible, provocative language.”
And he added: "I think Mike Flynn has a mental health problem, to be blunt.
“He has slipped into a different realm."
And he said that the Justice Department would be “hard-pressed not to consider” if Mr Flynn's comments were “criminal in nature.”
“As a senior military officer, retired as he is, to be calling for a coup against our democratic country, and he's done this before, is extremely dangerous,” he said.
The Myanmar coup is popular with QAnon supporters as the military there overthrew civilian leadership with unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud.
The military has killed more than 700 protesters since the January coup, according to observers.
