Trump punishes former CIA Director John Brennan for hurting his feelings

Trump has announced that he is revoking the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan, who has emerged as a frequent critic of the Trump administration’s abuses.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders read a statement at the daily press briefing that Trump is also considering revoking status for former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former FBI Director James Comey, former National Security Director Michael Hayden, former National Security adviser Susan Rice, former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe, Department of Justice official Bruce Ohr, and former FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.

Many of these officials were on a list of names Sanders gave last month when she first announced that Trump was considering a move like this.

At the time, Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan dismissed these threats from Trump as merely trolling.

Now, it’s clear that Trump was very serious indeed.

The former national security officials Trump has slated for punishment have a distinguished record of service — and have been critics of his presidency.

Brennan has been especially vocal about criticizing Trump for embracing racism, engaging in criminal or unethical behavior, and generally disgracing the presidential office.

In his most recent tweet before the announcement, Brennan responded to a Trump rant about former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman.

After Trump said Manigault Newman was a “crazed, crying lowlife” for her recent tell-all book about him, Brennan said, “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 also recently said he was “shocked” by Trump’s “treasonous” defense of Vladimir Putin. That response was prompted by Trump’s joint press conference in Helsinki with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, during which Trump stood up for Putin and attacked American law enforcement agencies for investigating Russian interference in U.S. elections.

Brennan has slammed Trump for his “small and petty” tweets and his “insecurity” over the ongoing investigation into his campaign and Russia.

He also told Trump, “America will triumph over you.”

When Trump jointly attacked Brennan, Clapper, and Comey last year — all three of whom are now on Trump’s new enemies list — Brennan brushed off the smears.

“It’s something that I think Mr. Trump should be ashamed of, but it doesn’t seem as though anything he does, he feels any shame whatsoever,” Brennan said.

Meanwhile, despite Trump’s supposed concern over security, the Trump administration is in the middle of an ongoing scandal over Trump’s decision to grant access to classified material to individuals who hadn’t fully passed a background check. Most notably, this included his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Now America knows what it really takes for Trump to revoke someone’s security clearance: Publicly telling the truth about his presidency.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.