President Trump and security clearances - What's Your Point?

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - The What's Your Point? panel discusses President Trump revoking the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan. What's Your Point? panelists this week include: Jessica Colon - Republican strategist, Tomaro Bell - Super neighborhood leader, Bob Price - Associate Editor of Breitbart Texas, Laura Moser - former Democratic congressional candidate, Steve Toth - former state representative (R) , and Tony Diaz - Chicano activist and educator.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on the revocation of former CIA director John Brennan's security clearance  

11:30 p.m. Saturday

President Donald Trump is drawing a direct connection between the Russia investigation and his decision to revoke former CIA director John Brennan's security clearance.

Trump told The Wall Street Journal in an interview Wednesday that his decision - and threat to revoke other clearances - stemmed from his frustrations with the ongoing investigation into Russian election meddling and potential collusion with his campaign.

Trump told the paper: "I call it the rigged witch hunt ... a sham ... And these people led it ... So I think it's something that had to be done."

Trump has ordered a review for nine others who have clearances.

He told the Journal he doesn't trust "many of those people on that list" and thinks "they're very duplicitous" and "not good people."

___

5:10 p.m.

Former CIA director John Brennan says President Donald Trump's move to strip him of his national security clearance is "an abuse of power" by the president.

Brennan is reacting to the news in a phone interview with MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace.

He tells Wallace he believes the president's action is aimed at trying to intimidate and suppress critics of him and his administration.

But Brennan says the move "is not going to deter" him.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced during Wednesday's press briefing that Trump would be revoking Brennan's clearance.

Brennan says he hasn't been contacted by anyone in the government informing him of the decision and learned about the news on television.

___

4:10 p.m.

Democrats are lining up to denounce President Donald Trump's decision to revoke the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, says Trump's move is a "stunning abuse of power."

Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, warns a "dangerous precedent" is being set.

The White House announced Wednesday it will be cutting off Brennan's access to classified information. Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Brennan, who was CIA director under President Barack Obama, has been making "unfounded and outrageous allegations" against the administration.

Brennan called Trump's behavior at a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin "nothing short of treasonous."

Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland says of Trump, "Leaders behave like this in dictatorships, not democracies."

___

2:50 p.m.

President Donald Trump is revoking the security clearance of former Obama administration CIA director John Brennan.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced the decision at a White House briefing Wednesday. Sanders is citing Brennan's "erratic conduct and behavior" and accusing him of "lying" and "wild outbursts."

Brennan has been deeply critical of Trump's conduct.

Sanders says the security clearances of other current and formers officials are also "under review."

They include former FBI Director James Comey; James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence; former CIA Director Michael Hayden; former national security adviser Susan Rice; and Andrew McCabe, who served as Trump's deputy FBI director until he was fired in March.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday acted on a threat and revoked the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan, citing a constitutional responsibility to protect classified information. Brennan, who served in the Obama administration, had retained his security clearance, as is custom, but had also become an increasingly sharp critic of Trump's.

Trump says he is reviewing security clearances for nine other individuals: James Clapper, James Comey, Michael Hayden, Sally Yates, Susan Rice, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and Bruce Ohr. Some have been publicly critical of the president, while others are linked to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference.

Trump calls the investigation a "witch hunt."

A look at the 10 individuals:

JOHN BRENNAN

In a written statement, Trump cited "erratic conduct and behavior" by President Barack Obama's CIA director as justification for revoking Brennan's security clearance. Trump also accused Brennan of "lying" and "wild outbursts." At a news conference last month in Finland, Trump stood alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin and openly questioned U.S. intelligence agencies' conclusions that Moscow tried to influence the 2016 election in his favor. Afterward, Brennan criticized Trump's performance as "nothing short of treasonous" and accused him of being "wholly in the pocket of Putin."

On Wednesday, Brennan tweeted a response to Trump's decision to revoke his security clearance: "This action is part of a broader effort by Mr. Trump to suppress freedom of speech & punish critics. It should gravely worry all Americans, including intelligence professionals, about the cost of speaking out. My principles are worth far more than clearances. I will not relent."

____

JAMES CLAPPER

Clapper served Obama as director of national intelligence and has held key positions in the U.S. intelligence community. He has been critical of Trump and told CNN on Wednesday that he has no plans to stop speaking out when he's asked for his views on the Trump administration.

"If they're saying that the only way I can speak is to be in an adulation mode of this president, I'm sorry. I don't think I can sign up to that," Clapper said.

___

JAMES COMEY

Trump fired Comey from his post as FBI director in May 2017 over the bureau's Russia investigation. Comey had also announced in July 2016 that the FBI would not recommend charges against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for her email practices as Obama's secretary of state. Trump believes the investigation was handled unfairly because of what he alleges is political bias against him at the FBI. Comey does not have a security clearance; Trump said Comey may not be able to have it reinstated.

On Wednesday, Comey tweeted a statement that said, in part: "Once again this president is sending a message that he will punish people who disagree with him and reward those who praise him. In a democracy, security clearances should not be used as pawns in a petty political game to distract voters from even bigger problems."

___

MICHAEL HAYDEN

The veteran U.S. intelligence official is a former director of the National Security Agency, principal deputy director of national intelligence and a past CIA director. He's also been critical of the president. Hayden said last month when the White House first issued the security clearance threat that losing it wouldn't affect what he says or writes.

He published a book this year called "The Assault on Intelligence: American National Security in an Age of Lies."

___

SALLY YATES

Trump fired Yates early in 2017 after she refused to enforce the new president's ban on travel to the U.S. by residents of several mostly Muslim countries. Yates served in the Obama administration and had agreed to stay in the job under Trump. She also had informed the White House that Michael Flynn, Trump's first national security adviser, was potentially compromised because of his contacts with Russian officials. Trump allowed Flynn to keep his security clearance after Yates' disclosure but later fired Flynn, citing misstatements he said Flynn made to Vice President Mike Pence.

Referring to Trump's summit with Putin, Yates tweeted, "Our President today not only chose a tyrant over his own Intel community, he chose Russia's interests over the country he is sworn to protect." Last December she tweeted, "The FBI is in "tatters"? No. The only thing in tatters is the President's respect for the rule of law."

___

SUSAN RICE

Rice was national security adviser during Obama's second term and has criticized Trump policies. She wrote an op-ed for The New York Times in July, saying the U.S. had "so much to lose and so little to gain" from the Trump-Putin summit - "given this very atypical US President," she added in a tweet.

___

ANDREW McCABE

McCabe is a former FBI deputy director who led the investigation into Clinton's email practices. Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe this year after FBI disciplinary officials and the Justice Department concluded he hadn't been candid during an inspector general investigation. Trump has alleged bias in the email investigation because McCabe's wife, Jill, ran as a Democrat for the Virginia state Senate in 2015 and accepted a campaign contribution from a longtime Clinton ally. But McCabe didn't become involved in the Clinton probe until after his wife's bid for elected office.

___

PETER STRZOK

The longtime FBI agent was recently fired from the bureau, his lawyer said this week. Strzok had worked on the Mueller investigation but was removed after anti-Trump text messages that Strzok exchanged with an FBI lawyer became public. Trump has used the text messages to buttress his claims that the FBI is biased against him.

Strzok's lawyer, Aitan Goelman, said in a statement Wednesday that security clearances shouldn't be taken away as a means of "punishing people who have criticized the President, or coercing others into silence." He said by stripping Brennan's clearance and threatening others with the same fate, "the President has taken us down one more step on the path toward authoritarianism."

___

LISA PAGE

Page is the former FBI lawyer who exchanged anti-Trump text messages with Strzok. Trump has begun referring to Page as the "lovely Lisa Page" in his tweets about the Russia investigation.

___

BRUCE OHR

The Justice Department official has come under Republican scrutiny for his contacts with Glenn Simpson, co-founder of Fusion GPS. The opposition research firm hired former British spy Christopher Steele during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign to compile a dossier of information on Trump and his ties to Russia. Ohr's wife, Nellie, worked for Fusion GPS during the campaign - a fact Trump has tweeted about in recent days to highlight his assertions of political bias as motivation for the Russia investigation.