Panetta: Trump may not have authority to revoke Brennan’s security clearance

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta on Sunday suggested that President Trump might not have had the authority to revoke ex-CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance.

Panetta, appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” pointed to executive order 12968, an order signed by former President Clinton and updated by former President George W. Bush.

“I think there are questions raised as to whether or not this president has followed the executive order, and whether or not he’s provided due process to those that are going to have their security clearances revoked,” Panetta said.

{mosads}

Panetta added that Trump is required to abide by the executive order “unless he’s prepared to change it.”

“This president is not above the law,” Panetta said.

Panetta, who was CIA director under former President Obama from 2009 to 2011, became the latest former intelligence official to question Trump since the president revoked Brennan’s security clearance last week. The move was widely viewed as an act of retaliation against Brennan, who has often publicly criticized Trump.

Panetta also said Sunday that he’s concerned that Trump will revoke other security clearances in the midst of a “bad news day” in an effort to change news cycles. Trump’s revocation of Brennan’s clearance dominated a news cycle that had previously been focused on Omarosa Manigault Newman and her series of claims about the Trump administration.

“I think that’s a real misuse of not only security clearances, but a misuse of the office of the presidency,” he said.

—This report was updated at 11:49 a.m.