Senator Rand Paul took to Twitter today to express his desire to see the security clearance of former National Intelligence leaders revoked.
Today I will meet with the President and I will ask him to revoke John Brennan’s security clearance!
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 23, 2018
Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during the press briefing that President Trump is looking into revoking security of former Obama and Bush administration members that have been critical of his performance at the U.S. Russian Summit in Helsinki among other things such as the Iran deal pullout.
Those officials are, former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI director James Comey, former CIA Director Michael Hayden, former national security adviser Susan Rice, former director of national intelligence James Clapper, and former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe.
Sanders said the reason they are looking into revoking the clearance of that specific group is 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,” via the Washington Post.
She went onto to say, “The fact that people with security clearances are making these baseless charges provides inappropriate legitimacy to accusations with zero evidence,”
Andrew McCabe spokesperson Melissa Schwartz responded via tweet
Andrew McCabe's security clearance was deactivated when he was terminated, according to what we were told was FBI policy. You would think the White House would check with the FBI before trying to throw shiny objects to the press corps… https://t.co/ZOKJDChpeP
— Melissa Schwartz (@MSchwartz3) July 23, 2018
Former DNI James Clapper, via CNN, responded,
James Clapper on CNN: "I don't get the briefings. I don't have access to classified info … Haven't had a case to use it and has no bearing whatsoever on my regard or lack thereof for President Trump or what he's doing … I think this is just a very, very petty thing to do."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 23, 2018
Sarah Sanders
Trump is considering revoking security clearances from ex-officials, including former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper https://t.co/eEAOgLkm6Y pic.twitter.com/ryN1kN64jJ
— POLITICO (@politico) July 23, 2018
This is a developing story more to follow as updates become available.
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