White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders today confirmed that President Trump is considering revoking the security clearances of former law enforcement and intelligence officials who are waging a public relations war against the president and his administration.
The list reads like a Rogues’ Gallery of Liars from the Obama Administration: Former CIA Director John Brennan; former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper; former FBI Director James Comey; former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe; and former National Security Advisor Susan Rice. General Michael Hayden, a Bush administration intelligence chief, also made the list.
“The president is exploring the mechanisms to remove the security clearance because they’ve politicized and, in some cases, monetized their public service security clearances,” Sanders said. “Making baseless accusations of improper contact with Russia or being influenced by Russia against the president is extremely inappropriate. And the fact that people with security clearances are making these baseless charges provides inappropriate legitimacy to accusations with zero evidence.”
The announcement followed a meeting this morning between the president and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who tweeted earlier today that he would ask Trump to take away the security clearances of Brennan and “other partisans.” Paul accused the former officials of divulging “secrets” to the media and profiting off their privileged government status. (Brennan is an NBC News analyst and Clapper works for CNN; both Clapper and Comey have books for sale.)
“Public officials should not use their security clearances to leverage speaking fees or network talking head fees,” Paul tweeted.
The real outrage is not that this crew is making money from cable news hits or book deals. The outrage is that they are attacking the president in a vile and seditious way, seeking to destabilize our political system and derail his presidency. Brennan’s conduct is particularly contemptible: His twitter timeline reads like the rantings of a truly disturbed man – berating the president, smearing Congressional Republicans and urging insurrection. Last week, he accused the president of treason.
Clapper recently suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin “has something on Trump.” In January 2017, he leaked information to his future employer about an intelligence briefing with the president-elect to help ignite the dossier story, and possibly lied about it to Congress. Hayden compared Trump’s immigration policy to the Holocaust. Rice sought to unmask the identity of Trump associates in intelligence reports. (She first denied the charge.)
Trump foes are already denouncing the move as a violation of this claque’s First Amendment rights (huh?) and criticizing the president for “politicized retaliation.”
Excuse me while I grab my crying towel for these folks . . .