Trump considers taking clearances from critics

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is considering revoking the security clearances of at least half a dozen well-known former national security officials, his spokeswoman said Monday, in an extraordinary reflection of frustration with his increasingly vocal critics from past administrations.

Among the president’s targets, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, are former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former national security adviser Susan Rice, all of who served under President Barack Obama.

She also named Michael Hayden, who was head of the National Security Agency and CIA director under President George W. Bush; James B. Comey, the former FBI director under Obama and Trump and a deputy attorney general in the Bush administration; and former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, a career federal official whom Trump fired.

“They’ve politicized and in some cases monetized their public service and security clearances, making baseless accusations of improper contact with Russia,” Sanders told reporters during an afternoon White House briefing.

Sanders did not rule out some kind of similar action against Obama and his vice president, Joe Biden. “I’m not aware of any plans for that at this point,” she said.

If Trump decides to revoke the clearances, the former officials, many of whom spent decades in government or military service, or both, would no longer be permitted to review classified material.

Soon after Sanders’ remarks, Clapper responded in a CNN interview, calling the potential revocation “a very, very petty thing to do.”

“If he chooses to do it for political reasons, well that’s — I think that’s a terrible precedent, and I think that’s a very sad commentary. And it’s an abuse of the system,” Clapper said on CNN.