Trump revokes EX-CIA director’s security clearance
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump revoked the security clearance of EX-CIA Director John Brennan on Wednesday, an unprecedented act of retribution against a critical former top U.S. official.
Trump also threatened to yank the clearances of several former officials and a current one.
He denounced Brennan’s criticism and spoke of “the risks posed by his erratic conduct and behavior.” The president described his own action as fulfilling his “constitutional responsibility to protect the nation’s classified information.”
Democratic congressmen said it smacked of an “enemies list” and the behavior of leaders in “dictatorships, not democracies.” Brennan tweeted: “My principles are worth far more than clearances. I will not relent.”
Trump, in a statement distributed by the White House, accused Brennan of having “leveraged his status as a former high-ranking official with access to highly sensitive information to make a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations, wild outbursts on the internet and television about this administration.”
The officials under review include former FBI Director James Comey; James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence; former CIA Director Michael Hayden; former national security adviser Susan Rice; and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew Mccabe.
Also on the list: fired FBI agent Peter Strzok, former FBI lawyer Lisa Page and senior Justice Department official Bruce Ohr.