White House: Trump considering revoking clearances from former CIA, FBI chiefs

[DonViejo]

Source: Politico



07/23/2018 03:06 PM EDT

President Donald Trump is considering revoking security clearances from ex-officials including former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday.

Sanders said Trump believes the former officials "politicized" their positions by accusing Trump of inappropriate contact with Russia, and she said in some cases they "monetized their clearances," without clarifying what she meant.

"The fact that people with security clearances are making baseless charges provides inappropriate legitimacy to accusations with zero evidence," Sanders said. She also said Trump was eyeing clearances held by former NSA Director Michael Hayden, former national security adviser Susan Rice and former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe.

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Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/23/white-house-trump-considering-revoking-clearances-from-former-cia-fbi-chiefs-735968

[Sophia4]

1. This is yet another step toward a dictatorship of the incompetent.

[BigmanPigman]

25. Even Nixon didn't go this far.

This is unprecedented in the history of the US, MSNBC said earlier.

[Mr.Bill]

2. They should reply by saying

it won't be a problem, there's plenty of people in high positions in the White House that tell us everything anyway.

[Perseus]

3. A short story with a moral

"There was a donkey tied to a tree, the devil came and let the donkey loose. The donkey went into a barn and started eating everything in its path. The farmer's wife saw what the donkey was doing, picked up a rifle and shot the donkey. The donkey's owner heard the shot, saw the donkey was not tied, run to the farmer's barn and saw his donkey had been shot, so he picked up a gun and shot the farmer's wife.
The farmer heard the shot, run to the barn and saw his wife dead, so he picked up a gun and shot the donkey's owner. The donkey owner's children learned of the death of their father so they burned down the farmers ranch. The farmer took vengeance and killed all the donkey owner's children.
Someone asked the devil what it had done, and the devil answered "nothing, I just let the donkey loose."

Moral of the story: If you want to destroy a country, let the donkey loose. 1/3 of the USA has let Trump loose.

[Dave Starsky]

9. I love those kinds of fables.

They exist, and have stood the test of time, for a very good reason.

Thanks for that one. So true.

[Chickensoup]

4. The traitor gets to keep his clearance

and patriots lose theirs.
Give me a break!!!

[JDC]

5. Yet those who can't attain clearances are given a pass.

A la Jared Kushner, Rob Porter, etc.

[NCjack]

6. IQ-45 is telling us how he and his administration should be

treated after they leave office.

[djacq]

7. Orange Clown abuses power that he shouldn't have.

Vets should take notice CIC being spiteful.

[INdemo]

8. Rand Paul started the wheels turning on ths issue

when he stated John Brennan was violating his clearance by using secret issues to accuse the President.
Yep Rand Paul put this idea in Trumps head

[lagomorph777]

10. Ever notice that fear sweat smells different than regular sweat?

More of a sour, metallic odor?

That's how the White House smells today.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. If "baseless charges" is the threshold then 90% of White House staff would have it revoked. . . nt

[Ztolkins]

12. Forgive the ignorance...

Why do these former officials have/need security clearances?

[BumRushDaShow]

16. If they want to work as contractors to the federal government. nt

[Ztolkins]

21. Ohhh, okay.

Thanks!

[B2G]

22. Couldn't they reapply if they actually take a position?

I really don't understand why any ex-employee retains clearance.

[BumRushDaShow]

26. They can reapply but as you have seen from the fiasco in the West Wing

these types of things take a long time (and resources - often contractors, which cost $$$) to complete. When you have tens of thousands of generic new civil servants going through clearances, you can imagine the backlog (which has been in place for decades). Of course Drumpf has no clue about anything to do with "government" because to him "government = bad and useless", so this sort of nonsense is to be expected.

From what I understand, once they have done one for what these Intel folks had, it is good for like 5 years for "Top Secret" and 10 years for "Secret". The last "Confidential" one I had before I retired was supposedly good for 15 years.

[B2G]

31. Did not know that.

Thanks!

[BumRushDaShow]

34. No prob!

[turbinetree]

23. They have the clearance because they have to sometimes go to meetings "if asked" some

information they might know about...................they have the clearance for about one year.

Anyone that has worked for the government in any capacity employee, contractor, manufacture has the clearance, for about one year............this act, this "fuming" that this traitor wants to do because he and his team are being boxed in, he attacks the fundamental right to free speech, these men and woman have a right to comment on this traitor, just, like I did. I may not be as powerful as them, but I have a right and we should call out a wanna be, putin clone....................

[BumRushDaShow]

30. The clearances are usually good for more than a year

but for the highest level ones, the timeframes are generally shorter than the lower level ones like I had.

[turbinetree]

33. Yepper, spot on

Mine was about 5 years after I left, then I would have to re-apply............

[BumRushDaShow]

35. Doing that e-QIP thing was a PITA.

[Grasswire2]

13. ...six people

Clapper
Hayden
Brennan
Comey
McCabe
Rice

[Grasswire2]

14. NBC calling it an "ENEMIES LIST" nt

[FreepFryer]

32. EXCELLENT. (n/t)

[BumRushDaShow]

15. This is just silly

They are acting as if any of them can just randomly walk into a government office and ask for information.

If anyone was "abusing" someone's "security clearance" it was most likely Ghouliani and his apparent contacts with certain NY FBI folks during the 2016 campaign season.

[pecosbob]

17. Oh, looky...Republicans throwing conservatives under the bus

[Cognitive_Resonance]

18. Another abuse of power charge for the articles of impeachment. nt

[dem4decades]

27. The charges are stacking so high they're going to fall over.

[orangecrush]

19. Pure fear

Mueller is closing in!



?fit=559%2C485

[janx]

20. Comey and McCabe don't even

have security clearances presently, as it turns out!

[SkatmanRoth]

24. Trump is going to put Comey and McCabe on double secret probation

Just don't tell anybody

[C_U_L8R]

28. Paranoia. It's what's for breakfast.

And lunch. And dinner.

[htuttle]

29. He knows that Brennan and Clapper know

They were some of the people who briefed Trump before the inauguration with the raw evidence that Russia had hacked the election to Trump's benefit.

So when Brennan speaks about Trump, Trump knows that Brennan knows he's guilty. Has nothing to do with their current security clearances.

[DeminPennswoods]

37. Revoking security clearance won't make them

forget what they know.

I'm a little surprised that former officials can keep their clearances after they leave govt. Figluzzi said on Wallace's show that he had his for a year after he retired.

[htuttle]

38. Just having the clearance doesn't mean they are actually read into or notified about anything

They keep their clearances in case someone needs to ask them something pertinent to their tenure. Or in case they need to come back for some reason.

At least that's how I understand it.

[DeminPennswoods]

39. Heard that explanation, too

Given the civilian continuity in federal agencies, I don't see this need for current political appointees to "talk to" the former occupants of the job.

OTOH, not having a security clearance can put the kibosh on the kind of well-paying contractor/private sector jobs these guys might want.

[dalton99a]

36. Goddamn traitor

[YOHABLO]

40. If it weren't for the fact he is President: Trump would never be able to get a security clearance.