Trump suggests Clapper is ‘being nice’ to keep his security clearance

President Trump suggested in a tweet on Tuesday morning that former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is “being nice” so he can keep his security clearance.

“Even James Clapper has admonished John Brennan for having gone totally off the rails,” Trump said.

“Maybe Clapper is being nice to me so he doesn’t lose his Security Clearance for lying to Congress!” the president continued.

Even James Clapper has admonished John Brennan for having gone totally off the rails. Maybe Clapper is being nice to me so he doesn’t lose his Security Clearance for lying to Congress!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2018

Trump last week revoked former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance, saying that his “lying” and “frenzied commentary” threatened national security. 

The president’s decision to pull Brennan’s security clearance was widely regarded as an attempt to retaliate against a vocal critic of his administration and was met with considerable backlash from numerous former top intelligence officials. 

Clapper, however, said on Sunday that he thought Brennan’s rhetoric was becoming an “issue.”

“John and his rhetoric have become an issue in and of itself,” Clapper said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “John is subtle like a freight train and he’s gonna say what’s on his mind.” 

Brennan said in a New York Times op-ed last week that there was collusion with Russia by the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.

Brennan also felt some heat from Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) for the opinion piece, who took aim at the former CIA head for “purport[ing] to know, as fact, that the Trump campaign colluded with a foreign power.”

{mosads}“If his statement is based on intelligence he has seen since leaving office, it constitutes an intelligence breach. If he has some other personal knowledge of or evidence of collusion, it should be disclosed to the special counsel, not The New York Times,” Burr said.

He also added that Trump has the “full authority” to rescind security clearance if Brennan’s statements were “purely political and based on conjecture.”