Former CIA Director John Brennan dropped a bombshell on Tuesday morning, telling MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson he’s still “uncertain” his security clearance has been revoked, the Trump administration has not followed their own guidelines, and “Mr. Trump not liking me is not a valid reason” to strip his security clearance.
The MSNBC host asked Brennan, if he thought Bruce Ohr’s “security clearance would be revoked.”
Brennan responded, “I don’t know. The only thing that I’ve heard about my security clearance from the government is when Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at the podium that my clearance has been stripped. I have not been contacted by anybody at all, either before or since then. So whether or not my clearance has been stripped, I’m still you know, uncertain about. But she said it, she read something from Donald Trump, but umm, ehh.”
Jackson asked Brennan, “What would the process be, would you normally hear from some sort of intelligence official, saying, ‘Hey, FYI’?”
The former CIA director stated, “I would think that would be the process, but in this current administration, process seems to be thrown out the door because the process for revocation of clearance has very clear guidelines. And so the Trump administration did not follow the guidelines that they in fact affirmed last year about how to deal with security clearance revocations.”
Jackson responded questioning Brennan if he thinks the Trump administration are “walking it back” and will let him keep his clearance.
Brennan laughed and said, “Well given what everyone believes, the rationale for stripping me of my clearances is bogus. I’m sure there are some people that are scratching their heads right now that maybe have to put together the memorandum to say why I was stripped of my clearances, other than the fact that Mr. Trump may not like me. Which is not a valid reason, so I’m still waiting to hear. They have my contact information, but I’ve not yet heard.”