Maher to Brennan: Trump is a ‘traitor’ for attacking former national security officials

HBO host Bill Maher called President Trump a “traitor” Friday during an interview with former CIA Director John Brennan, questioning why others seem reluctant to label Trump as such.

During the interview, Maher ripped Trump for comments made during a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which Trump appeared to side with Russia’s explanation for election interference over his own intelligence agencies.

{mosads}”He takes their side and not ours. That’s a traitor,” Maher said.

“You [Brennan] used terms like that, after Helsinki, you said it was ‘nothing short of treasonous,’ which, to me, sounds like treasonous,” Maher added.

Brennan responded, saying that the word was what “came to [his] mind” following the summit with Putin, and Maher pressed on.

“He’s not on our side. You’re not on our side, if you’re attacking our generals, you’re not on our side,” Maher said.

Maher interviewed Brennan on Friday following the president’s announcement earlier this month that Brennan would be stripped of his security clearance while several other former officials are under review.

The president accused Brennan and others of “profiting” off of their security clearances, a charge which Brennan denies. The decision was condemned by a dozen top former intelligence officials, including CIA chiefs dating back to the 1980s.

“Mr. Brennan’s lying and recent conduct characterized by increasingly frenzied commentary is wholly inconsistent with access to the nation’s most closely held secrets and facilities,” the president said in the statement last week.

Brennan fired back in a series of interviews, denying the accusations and writing on Thursday on Twitter that America was watching the “collapse” of the Trump administration.

“I take no delight in seeing the steady collapse of a U.S. Presidency, but I do take strong comfort in knowing that the rule of law & our great government institutions are prevailing. Things ultimately will get better, and we will heal as a Nation,” he tweeted.