Fiona Hill says Trump was a national security risk because he was 'so vulnerable to manipulation based on the fragility of his ego'

• Fiona Hill says Trump's fragile ego made him vulnerable to manipulation and a national security risk.
• "His ideology was idolatry," Hill, who was Trump's top Russia advisor, told the Daily Beast.
• Hill also said Trump had "autocrat envy."

Fiona Hill told the Daily Beast that former President Donald Trump was "a counter-intelligence and national security risk because he was so vulnerable to manipulation based on the fragility of his ego."

Hill, who served as Trump's top Russia advisor on the National Security Council, added, "Anyone could induce him to do something by raising the specter of someone insulting him - or by praising him. His ideology was idolatry."

The former president was extremely susceptible to flattery, Hill said, which global leaders ranging from French President Emmanuel Macron to the Saudi royal family figured out early in his tenure.

Trump, who routinely and controversially showered authoritarian leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin with praise, had "autocrat envy," Hill said.

"He also really liked kings and queens," Hill said of Trump.

But she threw cold water on the notion that Russia had compromising material on Trump, which was a major narrative throughout his presidency. Trump's amicable demeanor toward Putin - even as tensions between the US and Russia reached historic heights - helped fuel that narrative.

"What Putin had on Trump is what everybody else had - recognition of his extreme vulnerability to manipulation," Hill told the Daily Beast.

Trump's general level of insecurity was shocking to Hill, the Daily Beast reported, because he'd grown up in the lap of luxury. People had such a tendency to touch a nerve with Trump that he kept what Hill referred to as a "nasty list."

Hill, who played a central role in Trump's first impeachment over his dealings with Ukraine, said that Trump's foreign policy was all about "his own personal ambitions and world view."

"It's not We the People - it's Me the People," Hill told the Beast of Trump's approach to politics and national security.

The former advisor to Trump has a new book, "There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century," which partly covers her time in the White House. The book was published on Tuesday. Ahead of its release, Hill on Monday told "Good Morning America" that Trump's presidency was a "mistake" and bad for American democracy.