In a very (unintentionally) funny moment on MSNBC, former CIA head John Brennan, known mainly for his intense case of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), went into overdrive losing his mind over President Trump’s decision to punish him for being part of the Hunter Laptop letter crew by yanking his security clearance.
Trump did that in an executive order. Beginning, it reminded Americans of how former intelligence officials like John Brennan helped suppress the letter, saying, “In the closing weeks of the 2020 Presidential campaign, at least 51 former intelligence officials coordinated with the Biden campaign to issue a letter discrediting the reporting that President Joseph R. Biden’s son had abandoned his laptop at a computer repair business. Signatories of the letter falsely suggested that the news story was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.”
Continuing, the letter noted that those with security clearances, such as Brennan, were involved, saying, “Before being issued, the letter was sent to the CIA Prepublication Classification Review Board, the body typically assigned to formally evaluate the sensitive nature of documents prior to publication. Senior CIA officials were made aware of the contents of the letter, and multiple signatories held clearances at the time and maintained ongoing contractual relationships with the CIA.”
Noting just how bad the letter was, as it weaponized the accumulated public trust in the intelligence agencies, the executive order said, “Federal policymakers must be able to rely on analysis conducted by the Intelligence Community and be confident that it is accurate, crafted with professionalism, and free from politically motivated engineering to affect political outcomes in the United States. The signatories willfully weaponized the gravitas of the Intelligence Community to manipulate the political process and undermine our democratic institutions. This fabrication of the imprimatur of the Intelligence Community to suppress information essential to the American people during a Presidential election is an egregious breach of trust reminiscent of a third world country. And now the faith of Americans in all other patriotic intelligence professionals who are sworn to protect the Nation has been imperiled.”
A bit later, it concluded by noting, “To remedy these abuses of the public trust, this Order directs the revocation of any active or current security clearances held by: (i) the former intelligence officials who engaged in misleading and inappropriate political coordination with the 2020 Biden presidential campaign; and (ii) John R. Bolton.” Brennan was amongst those in group (i).
So, appearing on MSNBC for an interview following getting his security clearance stripped from him, Brennan claimed that his clearance was for the benefit of the government, saying, “The only reason why I still had a security clearance, as I have for the past number of years since I left government service, was for the benefit of the government, so that if the CIA or another government agency wanted to call me in to discuss the classified matter, they could do that.”
Then, continuing on that note in somewhat unconvincing fashion, he said, “It was really for the government’s benefit. It was to facilitate those classified discussions with myself as well as with former directors as well as other former members of the intelligence community that had those clearances.”
