Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson on Sunday said that he has “no problem” with President Trump’s decision to revoke former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance, adding that Brennan “abused his privilege” when he accused the president of treason.
WATCH:
“I’m not sure there’s evidence that anybody has misused it, but I do believe that former CIA director John Brennan abused his privilege,” Johnson told Fox News host Chris Wallace when asked about Brennan. “When you are an ex-CIA director and you are going on all the cable news shows and acting as partisan as he has and accusing the president of the United States of treasonous behavior, high crimes and misdemeanors. Last time I checked, treason was punishable by death.”
“You’ve just crossed a line, and there’s a difference between being eligible for receiving classified information and gaining access to it,” he added. “Let’s face it, nobody was going to be consulting with John Brennan. He didn’t need access to any classified information, not during this administration. So I have no problem that the president pulled his clearance.” (RELATED: Senator Scott Gives Brennan A Dose Of Reality On Trump-Russia Collusion — ‘The Entire World Would Already Know’)
When Wallace later asked Johnson about the potential revocation of other security clearances, the Wisconsin senator expressed his desire to not see Trump “politicize” the process.
“I don’t want to see him politicize this,” said Johnson. “When you fire people, security clearances are yanked. When people retire honorably, I think let them keep their security clearances in place and if you don’t want to consult, just don’t give them access to classified material, that’s the best way of handling it. Just don’t give them access to the material.”
