George Stephanopoulos doubles down on defense of the 'deep state,' describes it as 'packed with patriots'

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George Stephanopoulos declares the deep state is full of patriots

ABC News host George Stephanopoulos joined the co-hosts of "The View" on Tuesday and said that the "deep state" was "full of patriots" while discussing his new book.

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos reiterated his defense of the "deep state" just days after he shared his controversial opinion on "The View." 

The "Good Morning America" anchor discussed his book "The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis" with Politico columnist Jonathan Martin during an event on Thursday. After explaining how many men and women he interviewed for the project, Stephanopoulos proclaimed his appreciation for the "patriots" behind the scenes.

"We’ve heard a lot about the deep state these last several years, and one of my big takeaways from working on this book is the deep state is absolutely packed with patriots," Stephanopoulos said.

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George Stephanopoulos discussed his new book in a conversation with Politico's Jonathan Martin on Thursday. (YouTube Screenshot)

While speaking to Martin, Stephanopoulos also complimented President Biden for agreeing to debate Donald Trump. He also admired the additional debate rules such as cutting off a candidate’s mic after his time expires and having no live audience, believing that they will help limit Trump’s falsehoods.

"I won't do a live interview with [Trump] anymore, because so much of it is false. You simply can't keep up with it," Stephanopoulos revealed.

Part of Stephanopoulos’ book also tackled the "deep state" working in the White House during the Jan. 6 protests and admitted the struggle in describing Trump’s actions.

"It was kind of difficult to write about President Trump because so much has been written about him. We've become so numb to how abnormal it was," the former Bill Clinton adviser said. 

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Stephanopoulos said that he would not do a live interview with Donald Trump today. (LEFT:  Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images, RIght: (Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images))

This conversation came only a couple of days after he made similar comments during his appearance on ABC’s "The View" on May 14.

"I interviewed about 100 duty officers from the White House and these are people, they're relatively young, people who come from all over the government. The CIA, DIA, the Defense Department, military, and some people like to call those people the deep state. Well, the big thing I learned doing this book is that the deep state is packed with patriots," Stephanopoulos said.

He continued, "People who go to work every single day on the frontlines of the most intense crises the country faces and do it to serve their country and to serve the presidency, not the president. They don’t care about political parties. They’re there to serve the presidency and the institution." 

Stephanopoulos made similar comments on ABC's "The View." (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)

Presumptive GOP nominee Trump has repeatedly vowed to end the deep state, a phrase he uses to negatively describe un-elected bureaucrats who, he and his supporters believe, are working to thwart his agenda. 

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Fox News' Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.