https://www.rawstory.com/2018/08/white- ... ism-trump/U.S. President Donald Trump revoked the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan on Wednesday, accusing Brennan of using his access to classified information to “sow division and chaos” about the Trump administration.
Brennan, who was director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency under Trump’s predecessor, Democratic President Barack Obama, has been a sharp critic of Trump, frequently appearing on cable television news shows to attack his foreign policy positions.
Trump’s statement said Brennan had engaged in “increasingly frenzied commentary” and abused his access to classified information by using it to “sow division and chaos.”
“At this point in my administration, any benefits that senior officials might glean from consultations with Mr. Brennan are now outweighed by the risks posed by his erratic conduct and behavior … That conduct and behavior has tested and far exceeded the limits of any professional courtesy that has been due to him,” Trump said.
A spokesman for Brennan declined to immediately comment.
The move against Brennan came a day after the former CIA director denounced Trump in a tweet for his criticism of Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former White House aide who wrote a book critical of the president.
“It’s astounding how often you fail to live up to minimum standards of decency, civility, & probity. Seems like you will never understand what it means to be president, nor what it takes to be a good, decent, & honest person. So disheartening, so dangerous for our Nation,” Brennan wrote.
Brennan strikes back
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/08/ex-cia ... e-revoked/Former CIA director John Brennan said that he’s not deterred by President Donald Trump’s attacks. After it was announced that his security clearance would be revoked, Brennan tweeted that he will not relent.
“This action is part of a broader effort by Mr. Trump to suppress freedom of speech & punish critics,” he said Wednesday afternoon “It should gravely worry all Americans, including intelligence professionals, about the cost of speaking out. My principles are worth far more than clearances. I will not relent.”
Brennan later compared Trump to a “foreign despot” during an MSNBC interview.
The president claimed the motivation was Brennan’s “erratic” behavior, but many believe it’s merely a petty attack on a political adversary.
“At this point in my administration, any benefits that senior officials might glean from consultations with Mr. Brennan are now outweighed by the risks posed by his erratic conduct and behavior … That conduct and behavior has tested and far exceeded the limits of any professional courtesy that has been due to him,” Trump said.
Other ex-Intel Bosses chime in.
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/08/former ... n-brennan/Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper called in to CNN Wednesday afternoon to discuss President Donald Trump’s stunning decision to revoke the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan.
As many observers noted, this appeared to be a brazen move by the president to use the powers of his office to punish a critic. The White House also released a list of other former officials — all critics of Trump — who might have their clearances revoked. Clapper told CNN host Brooke Baldwin that while the specific issue of security clearances is not the most crucial topic, the president’s decision nevertheless represents a serious break with tradition and a threat to freedom of expression in the United States.
“Will the republic stand or fall on whether John retains his access to classified information, or mine or any others that were named?” he said. “Of course not. The larger issue here, to me, throughout, has been infringement on First Amendment rights. And I think people ought to think seriously about that.”
Asked exactly what he meant, Clapper said, “Infringement of our right to speak, and apparently the appropriateness of being critical of this president. Of which, in one degree or another, all of us have been.”
He continued: “It’s unprecedented. I don’t know of a case where this has ever been done in the past. I mean, access to clearances normally would be done completely by a sponsoring agency. So in John’s case, the sponsoring agency is CIA. And normally, if there were going to be an action taken like this, it would be done at that level. And not by the White House or not by the president himself. So this is, at least in my memory, unprecedented.”
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/08/ex-cia ... straction/Former Central Intelligence Agency Deputy Director John McLaughlin slammed the “ridiculous” move by the White House to strip security clearance from former CIA Director John Brennan.
“The thing about John Brennan and others that are named here that gets under the president’s skin is criticism of this administration, none of which is affected by whether or not John McLaughlin and others like you have clearances,” anchor Ali Velshi noted.
“Not at all, Ali,” McLaughlin agreed. “This is ridiculous.”
“I can think of few things the president has done that more directly indicate a kind of authoritarian attitude in his governing style,” he added.
“Clearly nothing that John Brennan has said, or that the other intelligence people on this list have said, has anything to do with classified information,” he noted. “The reason you pull someone’s clearances, the unique reason really, is if they have abused or in some ways released in an unauthorized way classified information.”
“These people haven’t done that,” McLaughlin noted. “They have only spoken out using their first amendment rights to state their personal opinions.”
“So I think it’s just across the board a foolish thing to do and I believe Katy Tur was probably correct in saying this is nothing more than a distraction at this point,” he concluded.
“So this really has the feel of someone simply trying to do two things, silence critics and also distract from another damaging political event that’s going on with Omarosa,” he observed.
I agree the Orange Slime One is trying to distract from Omarosa and Pootin along with other screw ups like Manafort and Donnie Jr.