Brennan: Trump’s denial of collusion ‘hogwash’

WASHINGTON – Former CIA Director John Brennan said Thursday that President Donald Trump revoked his security clearance this week to try to silence him for speaking out against Trump’s friendliness with Russians who influenced the 2016 election.

“Mr. Trump’s claims of no collusion are, in a word, hogwash,” Brennan wrote in a New York Times op-ed published the day after the White House announced revocation of his security clearance. Brennan cited Trump’s call on Russia in July of 2016 to release emails from the private account of Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton; Trump later said he was joking, but Brennan wrote that the comment “makes one wonder what Mr. Trump privately encouraged his advisers to do – and what they actually did – to win the election” over Clinton.

Said Brennan: “The only questions that remain are whether the collusion that took place constituted criminally liable conspiracy, whether obstruction of justice occurred to cover up any collusion or conspiracy, and how many members of ‘Trump Incorporated’ attempted to defraud the government by laundering and concealing the movement of money into their pockets.”

Trump, who has denied collusion or obstruction of justice with respect to the Russia investigation, said he revoked Brennan’s security clearance because of “erratic” statements about the Russia case.

Brennan has “leveraged” his CIA experience and access to information “to make a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations – wild outbursts on the internet and television – about this Administration,” Trump said.