The White House revoked former CIA Director John Brennan's security clearance on Wednesday and for national security reasons said it will review the clearances of other former officials.
To begin the day's press briefing, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders gave a statement from President Trump, announcing the decision.
"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," Trump stated.
.@PressSec quoting @POTUS on revoking John Brennan's security clearance: "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." pic.twitter.com/tbS0GIVqe3
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 15, 2018
Brennan has long been a vocal critic of the president and on Tuesday tweeted that Trump will "never understand what it means to be president."
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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. https://t.co/eI9HaCec1m
— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) August 14, 2018
Fox Business Network's Blake Burman said that the clearance review will go far beyond Brennan, and includes former Obama-era officials like FBI heads James Comey and Andrew McCabe.
Democratic Virginia Rep. Don Beyer tweeted in response to Wednesday's announcement that revoking Brennan's security clearance was his punishment for criticizing Trump.
A flimsy excuse to set a terrible precedent.
Trump is clearly punishing @JohnBrennan for criticizing him, cracking down on a dissent and retaliating against a private citizen’s free speech.
The President has adopted the weak, paranoid, authoritarian behavior of a dictator. https://t.co/c04RuFjihx
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) August 15, 2018
He added that the president has adopted the behavior of a dictator.
Trump's statement also said that Brennan was "leveraging" his clearance in order to make "wild outbursts" against the administration.
“The president has a constitutional responsibility to protect classified information and who has access to it, and that’s what he’s doing is fulfilling that responsibility in this action,” Sanders said.
California Rep. Adam Schiff (D) also reacted to the move Wednesday, saying that Trump has again demonstrated how "insecure and vindictive" he is.
In adding John Brennan to his enemies list, Trump demonstrates again how deeply insecure and vindictive he is — two character flaws dangerous in any President.
An enemies list is ugly, undemocratic and un-American. I also believe this action to silence a critic is unlawful. https://t.co/bfOhThIWfq
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) August 15, 2018
Earlier this week, the president's attorney, Rudy Giuliani, accused Brennan of leading the effort to start the Trump-Russia investigation by passing along the Steele dossier in 2016.
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