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In Revoking John Brennan’s Security Clearance, Trump Feeds More Ammo to Mueller Probe

In Revoking John Brennan’s Security Clearance, Trump Feeds More Ammo to Mueller Probe

Last updated on: August 17, 2018 at 10:24 am by Susan Wright

In Revoking John Brennan’s Security Clearance, Trump Feeds More Ammo to Mueller Probe 2018-08-17T10:24:44-04:00 Susan Wright

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If Trump is caught up in the web of the ongoing Russia probe, do you know who will be to blame?

Donald Trump.

That’s right. It has become increasingly clear that the president is incapable of getting out of his own way. The very fact of there being a special counsel probe for him to grouse over is because of his comments regarding the firing of FBI Director James Comey in 2017.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller to take over the Russia probe, in regards to any collusion or obstruction from the Trump team, with the broad authority to go after any wrongdoing uncovered along the way, after Trump told NBC News’ Lester Holt that he fired Comey for the “Russia thing.”

There was no need for him to say that. He had letters from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Rosenstein recommending Comey’s firing because of how he handled the probe into Hillary Clinton’s emails.

Perfectly logical and legit reasoning.

He sent out then-National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster to make the announcement in a press briefing that Comey had been fired because of his handling of the Clinton email investigation.

For that matter, he didn’t need a reason. The position of FBI director is an appointed position. He could have simply said he wanted his own pick in the position and while some would have grumbled or groused, it would have quickly been forgotten.

Trump is, however, incapable of not getting himself jammed up with his own words, so of course, he had to cut the legs out from under his own people and announce to the world that he was punishing Comey for not stopping a lawful investigation into a hostile foreign power meddling in a United States election.

It was one of those moments where his staff probably watched in slow-motion horror, knowing the imbecilic new president had no idea that what he was saying was tantamount to attempted obstruction.

This wasn’t reality TV. There would be no censor to hit the “bleep,” in order to keep the audience from hearing the offensive words.

And for a presidency that should be carried out with a laugh track backdrop, it has not stopped. There has been very little to indicate that President Trump has learned from that early blunder.

In fact, he has not learned.

CNN’s Jake Tapper made the observation on Thursday’s episode of “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” noting that, in his comments about the stripping of former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance, it was as if Trump were connecting the dots for Robert Mueller’s investigation.

In a statement from the White House, explaining the decision to revoke the security clearance of Brennan, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said:

“Mr. Brennan’s lying and recent conduct characterized by increasingly frenzied commentary is wholly inconsistent with access to the nation’s most closely held secrets and facilities, the very aim of our adversaries, which is to sow division and chaos,” the statement read.

Just sort of soak in that comment, for a bit.

The White House’s official position on Brennan losing his security clearance is that he lies and acts nuts on social media.

Oh, irony, why do you mock us so?

Brennan, for his part, called the move an “abuse of power.”

“I do believe that Mr. Trump decided to take this action, as he’s done with others, to try to intimidate and suppress any criticism of him or his administration,” Brennan said during an interview on MSNBC Thursday.

Now, to be clear, I have mixed feelings about the whole situation. I don’t think Brennan was a “good guy.” There is a lot in his past actions and associations that cause conservative-minded observers to shy away from defending the man.

That being said, there are plenty within the military and intelligence community who saw what Trump did as “punishing a political enemy.”

The list that has been released of those who may lose their security clearance because of President Trump reads like a who’s who of Trump critics.

Can the administration make the case that for each and every one of those named on the list that they all are “security risks”?

It’s hard to say, but in a Wednesday interview, Trump, once again, stepped all over the White House’s crafted narrative, and as Tapper pointed out, may have given further ammunition to Mueller’s investigation.

Trump told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that he decided to pull the clearances of Brennan and consider those of other Obama-era intelligence officials who probed Russian interference in the 2016 election.

“I call it the rigged witch hunt, [it] is a sham. And these people led it!” Trump told the newspaper hours after it was announced Brennan’s clearance was being revoked.

“So I think it’s something that had to be done,” he added.

In other words, those he sees as responsible for prompting the investigation into Russia’s interference in our election (not to mention the chaos they sought to stir up among citizens) are the “bad guys,” and need to be punished.

This is where you [credibly] ask if Trump considers himself the president of this nation, or an advocate for Russia.

That’s one of those questions you can contemplate amongst yourselves.

In the meantime, who wants to bet Robert Mueller has read Trump’s statements to the WSJ and added notes to his case?

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