Brennan left the directorship of the US' Central Intelligence Agency in January 2017, just as US President Donald Trump was assuming the presidency, and has maintained a heavy criticism of POTUS ever since, accusing him of having "paranoia" and being "a charlatan," among other things.
Tuesday, Brennan fired off at Trump again, tweeting that Trump "will never understand what it means to be president, nor what it takes to be a good, decent and honest person," in response to Trump's offensive statements about former political aide Omarosa Manigault.
It’s astounding how often you fail to live up to minimum standards of decency, civility, & probity. Seems like you will never understand what it means to be president, nor what it takes to be a good, decent, & honest person. So disheartening, so dangerous for our Nation. https://t.co/eI9HaCec1m
— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) August 14, 2018
Subsequently, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced at the White House briefing Wednesday that Brennan's security clearance was being revoked, and that the White House was considering revoking the clearances of several other former intelligence officers who have become critics of the president.
"Historically, former heads of intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been allowed to retain access to classified information after their government service so that they can consult with their successors regarding matters about which they may have special insights and as a professional courtesy," the White House statement read. "Neither of these justifications supports Mr. Brennan's continued access to classified information."
"[A]ny benefits that senior officials might glean from consultations with Mr. Brennan are now outweighed by the risks posed by his erratic conduct and behavior."
Since then, Brennan has stepped up his attacks on the president even more. Brennan, who has always been a proponent of the idea that Russia interfered in the 2016 US election, wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times Thursday, "Mr. Trump's claims of no collusion are, in a word, hogwash," moving him from a position of believing in generalized interference to one of standard bearer of the Russiagate narrative.
"If you think it will silence John, then you just don't know the man," former US Vice President Joe Biden tweeted Wednesday about the clearance revocation; former Secretary of State John Kerry called it "banana republic behavior."
But "if you're a regular joe, your security clearance doesn't maintain for life," Tim Black, entrepreneur, author, activist and talk host, pointed out to Radio Sputnik's Fault Lines Thursday. "Your security clearance does expire, and you have to get recertified."
Black told hosts Garland Nixon and Lee Stranahan that he found it baffling that Brennan, like disgraced former FBI agent Peter Strzok, whose GoFundMe following news of his termination on August 13 has hit $424,000 at the time this article went to publication, has become a hero of the liberal Resistance.
[interview begins at 148:10]
"Anyone who will corroborate [the Resistance's] assertions about Donald Trump, who will disparage Donald Trump publicly, the harder you go the better it is; they will treat you like you're a hero all of a sudden… all these people are supporting the FBI, the CIA, the Deep State all of a sudden," the author said. "Political activists! We have civil rights activists cheering for [former FBI director Andrew] McCabe, cheering for Strzok!"
"What happened to COINTELPRO, what happened to… all the lies they told about Martin Luther King? These guys have a long track record of disinformation, and now all of a sudden you're supporting the CIA… it's all political maneuvering."
