Trump Seeks To Yank Security Clearance Of His Critics

The Washington Post reports:



Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said that he plans to meet with President Trump on Monday and ask him to revoke the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan, who has been a harsh critic of Trump on Russia and other issues. Brennan, who served under President Barack Obama, last week used the word “treasonous” to describe Trump’s performance at his summit with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin in Helsinki, saying it showed he was “wholly in the pocket of Putin.”

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that President Trump is targeting these officials’ security clearances because they “have politicized and in some cases monetized their public service” and have made baseless claims about the president’s relationship and contacts with the Russian government.

The officials Sanders said are being examined are former CIA director John Brennan; former FBI director James B. Comey; former CIA director Michael V. Hayden; former national security adviser Susan E. Rice; former director of national intelligence James R. Clapper Jr.; and former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe. “The fact that people with security clearances are making these baseless charges provides inappropriate legitimacy to accusations with zero evidence,” she said.