Donald Trump wasn’t particularly enamored with the feedback he received from the U.S. intelligence community after last week’s summit in Helsinki with Vladimir Putin.
Trump’s joint press conference with the Russian president was a disaster from start to finish, but the quote that drew the most ire from lawmakers and intelligence officials was this bit about Kremlin meddling in the 2016 election:
My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me, some others, they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this, I don’t see any reason why it would be.
Following intense criticism from both sides of the aisle and relentless pressure from the media (including Fox’s Neil Cavuto, who called the spectacle “disgusting”), the President attempted to backtrack, claiming that he meant to say “wouldn’t†rather than “would.â€
“That should have been obvious”, he added.
Well it wasn’t obvious to Dan Coats, who said this, hours after the press conference with Putin:
The U.S. intelligence community has been clear in our assessments of  Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy.
Coats would go on to laugh at the notion that the administration has invited Putin to the White House, only to apologize amid rumors Trump might fire him for “going rogue“.
Fast forward to Sunday night and Trump seemed to backtrack on his own backtracking, reverting to his standard line about Russian meddling being a “hoax” an assessment at odds with what he said in an interview with ABC’s Jeff Glor last Wednesday following yet another PR debacle that Sarah Huckabee Sanders was forced to try and sweep under the rug.
That brings us to Monday and now, apparently at wit’s end with criticism from former U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials, Trump is reportedly considering revoking the security clearances of James Comey and John Brennan.
As a reminder, here’s what Brennan said after Helsinki:
Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of “high crimes & misdemeanors.” It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???
— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) July 16, 2018
But don’t you think for a second it’s just Comey and Brennan. Here’s the full list:
- Former CIA Dir. Brennan
- Former FBI Dir. Comey
- Former DNI Clapper
- Former NSA Dir. Hayden
- Former National Security Adviser Rice
- Andrew McCabe
The rationale? Well, their criticism of Trump, number one, but also the “monetization” of their security clearances. The New York Times wrote the following on Monday afternoon:
The suggestion was an unusual politicization of the security clearance process and is the latest turn in an effort by Mr. Trump to deflect scrutiny from his meeting last week with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, whom he sided with over his own intelligence community in casting doubt about whether Moscow attacked the 2016 presidential election.
Security clearances allow former officials to work with companies on classified programs and provide advice to those firms and sometimes to government agencies. Stripping their clearances could harm their ability to work as consultants and advisers in Washington.
Here’s the clip of Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivering the news:
“Fox News host Tucker Carlson on July 19 called Brennan an ‘out-of-the-closet extremist’ with ‘a documented history of dishonesty’ and said he shouldn’t have a clearance”, Bloomberg reminds you, before noting that today’s news comes after Republican Senator Rand Paul “said he urged Trump to revoke Brennan’s security clearance at a meeting with the president.”
Earlier on Monday, Sanders appeared on Fox & Friends to tell voters what they’re supposed to believe, parroting the President’s “hoax” characterization from Sunday evening which itself is directly contrary to statements Dan Coats made last week.
Hayden weighed in on Twitter, noting that this will not affect him as intended.
I dont go back for classified briefings (although they occasionally ask me in to offer a view on something). Won’t have any impact on what I say or write.
— Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) July 23, 2018
For his part, James Clapper told CNN the following:
This is just a very, very petty thing to do. The security clearance has nothing to do with how I or any of us feel about the president. I don’t get briefings, I don’t have access to any classified information, it’s frankly more of a courtesy.
Well, James, Donald Trump isn’t much for “courtesy.”
trump is making Richard Nixon look like a pretty level-headed, fair, just, wise, and consensus-seeking leader.
“Security clearances allow former officials to work with companies on classified programs and provide advice to those firms and sometimes to government agencies. Stripping their clearances could harm their ability to work as consultants and advisers in Washington.”
Damn good idea. Not before time. Should happen automatically on leaving government service – and not just in the U.S.
Indeed. Although it’s an unfortunate development, and although I am not surprised to see you ilk cheering on the creeping authoritarianism, it does mark a useful precedent to justify stripping Trump of his own privileges upon his departure from office.
It’s amazing these incompetents ever had a security clearance.
Debriefing and revoking security clearances for former government officials, such as presidents, ambassadors, intelligence agency chiefs, congressmen/women and cabinet officials is not an across-the-board a good idea. These people are a potential source of knowledge and experience to even an administration entirely opposed to their earlier service. Doesn’t trump want to know what these folks know? Once debriefed, they legally cannot divulge to their new counterparts any information that is still deemed classified. Has he thought of that? (Maybe he has, and he wants to prevent their testimony!)
Additionally, even if they continue to hold their clearances, they still cannot legally divulge any information that remains classified, unless it is to properly briefed holders of the appropriate clearance. They cannot monetize sensitive information. They can, and will, monetize their inside the government experience, as will members of trump’s administration in the years to come.
Sure donald your security clearance is Vlad’s ticket to as much classified shit you can get your tiny little hands on.
VOTE.