Trump: I’d revoke a Republican’s clearance if they were ‘incompetent or crazy’

President Trump on Wednesday responded to criticism that he has only considered revoking the security clearances of former intelligence officials who served in Democratic administrations, saying he wouldn’t rule out taking away a Republican’s credentials.

Trump told The Wall Street Journal that he “would put a Republican on, too, if I thought they were incompetent or crazy.”

In a statement ready by press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday, Trump said he decided to revoke ex-CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance and that several other Obama-era intelligence officials’ clearances are under review.

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The names included former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former FBI Director James Comey, former National Security Agency Director Michael Hayden, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former FBI agent Peter Strzok, former FBI lawyer Lisa Page and Department of Justice official Bruce Ohr.

Critics quickly pointed out that every individual on the list served in the Obama administration. One journalist noted in Wednesday’s news briefing that the list did not include Trump’s own former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, pleaded has guilty to lying to the FBI as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Trump told the Journal that his decision was connected to the investigation into Russian interference, noting that he holds Brennan and the other former intelligence officials accountable for starting the probe.

Brennan served as CIA director under former President Obama, and was one of the officials who briefed Trump prior to his inauguration on evidence of Russian interference.

He has since become one of the most vocal critics of the Trump administration, frequently tearing into the president on Twitter and suggesting he lacks the decency to hold the office.

Sanders denied that the revocation was meant to send a message to Trump’s critics, instead referring to a statement from Trump that said Brennan was leveraging his clearance to make “unfounded and outrageous” charges about the current administration.