Why Is Trump Obsessed With Revoking Security Clearances?

It’s hard to tell when an action taken by President Trump or the White House is intended to distract from unfavorable news coverage. But it was pretty clear when Trump revoked the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan last week. The announcement, coming at the height of former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman’s decidedly anti-Trump press tour, was dated July 26th, a sign the White House had been waiting for an opportune time to assume control of the news cycle. A senior White House official later confirmed to the Washington Post that the revocation was indeed meant to distract from the media’s wall-to-wall coverage of the book.

Trump appeared so enamored with this newfound ability to punish those who speak out against him that he has since continued to hammer the security clearance issue, while threatening to strip credentials from many others. This has proven especially true when “disobedient” officials are privy to sensitive information regarding the Russia investigation. On Friday, Trump said he intends to “very quickly” revoke the clearance of Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, a frequent target of the president’s Witch Hunt wrath. After Brennan’s clearance was revoked last week, Trump told the Wall Street Journal he did it explicitly because “something had to be done” about the “rigged” Russia investigation.

Another Obama-era official with access to information regarding the Russia investigation is Obama himself. On Monday, the New Yorker reported that in 2017 Trump’s allies in the White House floated the idea of revoking the former president’s clearance, but that Trump ultimately decided against it at the insistence of then-National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. On Tuesday morning, the president roped the “very tired” New Yorker into the Fake News corral, referencing the story.

Link to tweet

The tweet came just an hour after he implied that frequent Trump critic and former national intelligence director James Clapper’s concern about Brennan’s behavior was a ploy to retain his security clearance. The previous night, Trump attacked former intelligence official Philip Mudd for defending Brennan on CNN. The tweet concluded with the president claiming that the “unglued and weird” Mudd is “in no mental condition” to have a security clearance. “Should be REVOKED?” Trump asked, before tagging Sean Hannity.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Mudd is far from the only former intelligence official to defend Brennan. On Monday, 177 of them signed a letter expressing concern that “the country will be weakened if there is a political litmus test applied before seasoned experts are allowed to share their views.” Also springing to Brennan’s defense was William McRaven, the admiral who oversaw the 2011 raid that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. “I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency,” McRaven wrote in an op-ed for the Post.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-security-clearance-713838/