UPDATE 2: In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, President Trump admits he pulled Brennan's clearance because of the former CIA director's role in the Russia investigation.
President Trump drew a direct connection between the special counsel investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election and his decision to revoke the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan and review the clearances of several other former officials.
In an interview Wednesday, Mr. Trump cited Mr. Brennan as among those he held responsible for the investigation, which also is looking into whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Mr. Trump has denied collusion, and Russia has denied interfering.
Mr. Brennan was director of the Central Intelligence Agency in the Democratic administration of former President Obama and one of those who presented evidence to Mr. Trump shortly before his inauguration that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election.
“I call it the rigged witch hunt, [it] is a sham,” Mr. Trump said in an interview. “And these people led it!”
He added: “So I think it’s something that had to be done.”
(...)
Earlier in the day, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the administration was also reviewing the clearances of former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former FBI Director James Comey, and former National Security Agency and CIA chief Michael Hayden.
“I don’t trust many of those people on that list,” Mr. Trump said in the interview. “I think that they’re very duplicitous. I think they’re not good people.”
(...)
U.S. intelligence officials appeared surprised by the White House’s announcement. Asked if Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, was consulted before the decision, a spokesman referred all questions to the White House.
The White House initially released on Wednesday a statement from Mr. Trump about revoking Mr. Brennan’s security clearance that was dated July 26—nearly three weeks ago and days after the White House initially threatened to remove clearances from some of its critics. Moments later on Wednesday, the White House issued a second statement, with the date removed.
Mr. Brennan might have needed a security clearance since leaving government if Mr. Trump’s administration sought his advice on national security issues. The intelligence community also depends on private-sector firms for analysis and projects, which require security clearances.
To be deprived of clearance can become a form of economic punishment ...
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Millions of U.S. citizens hold security clearances, needed for many government and private-sector jobs. The practice of having senior national security officials retain clearance after leaving the government is longstanding and serves various functions, national security officials and analysts said.
Trump Revokes Ex-CIA Director John Brennan’s Security Clearance (WSJ) *Note: All WSJ articles appear behind a paywall
UPDATE: Director Brennan responds:
Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and former Secretary of State John Kerry also weigh in via Twitter.
“This might be a convenient way to distract attention, say a damaging story or two. But politicizing the way we guard our nation’s secrets just to punish the president’s critics is a dangerous precedent,” Warner said in a tweet.
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Former Obama Secretary of State John Kerry, who once served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also blasted Trump’s decision.
“This is putting personal petty politics ahead of patriotism and national security, end of story,” he said in a tweet.
“You expect this banana republic behavior in the kind of countries that the State Department warns Americans not to travel to, but not at home in the USA,” he added.
Warner: Revoking Brennan's clearance 'a dangerous precedent' (The Hill)
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders announced Wednesday President Trump is revoking former CIA Director John Brennan's security clearance, claiming he has engaged in "erratic conduct and behavior."
The president's statement is dated July 26th, indicating he has been sitting on the decision for weeks and is revealing it now as a distraction from other stories dominating the news.
The move only can be seen as political retribution for Brennan's candid criticism of the president, especially since Sanders explained Trump believes Brennan is "among a group of former officials who have 'transitioned into highly partisan' people."
CNN:
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats was not consulted on revoking Brennan's clearance, an official with knowledge told CNN's Jim Sciutto. Coats is the top intelligence official working in government and was appointed by Trump.
While Brennan has been a vocal critic of the President since Trump took office, Brennan is well-regarded by both Republicans and Democrats as a seasoned national security expert.
Before serving as homeland security adviser and later CIA Director under President Barack Obama, Brennan served as the inaugural director of the National Counterterrorism Center under President George W. Bush. Prior to that, Brennan served as a career CIA official.
There is no evidence that Brennan has leveraged classified information or even his access to classified information to bolster his criticism of Trump.
NYT:
The White House had threatened last month to strip Mr. Brennan and two other Obama administration officials — Susan E. Rice, the former national security adviser; and James R. Clapper Jr., the former director of national intelligence — of their security clearances. At the time, Ms. Sanders said that Mr. Trump was considering doing it because “they politicized, and in some cases monetized, their public service and security clearances.”
(...)
Ms. Sanders said the president was reviewing the security clearances of other former Democratic officials who have been critics of the president. Those include, among others, Ms. Rice; Mr. Clapper; Michael V. Hayden, the former head of the C.I.A. and National Security Agency; and Sally Q. Yates, the former acting attorney general.
The list also includes a current high-ranking Justice Department official, Bruce Ohr, whom Mr. Trump has criticized on Twitter because of his association with Christopher Steele, who compiled a dossier containing damaging information about Mr. Trump ...
Ms. Sanders sidestepped a question about why Mr. Trump did not simply fire Mr. Ohr, rather than threaten to revoke his security clearance, which would render him unable to do his job ...
(...)
Former high-ranking officials in defense, intelligence, diplomacy and law enforcement usually maintain their clearances to advise those still in government. A clearance also serves a more personally profitable function: helping departing officials get jobs at security contractors or similar firms.
Revoking their access to classified information could weaken their ability to work as consultants, lobbyists and advisers in Washington. Nearly 4.1 million people have security clearances, according to the most recent report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, including 1.3 million with top secret clearances.
CNN:
The names amount to an unofficial enemies list for this White House. All of those individuals have been the target of Trump's public ire or criticized Trump -- or both.
Despite that, Sanders insisted on Wednesday that Trump's decision to revoke Brennan's clearance and put other critics on notice is not politically motivated.
"The President has a constitutional responsibility to protect classified information and who has access to it, and that's what he's doing is fulfilling that responsibility in this action," Sanders said.
She declined to say why the list included no supporters of the President, such as Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
When the president originally threatened to take such transparent partisan action, House Speaker Paul Ryan brushed it off as Trump just "trolling people."
Brennan has been very clear as to why he distrusts President Trump, and in the following exclusive interview with former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Director/Actor/Activist Rob Reiner, both members of CIR's Advisory Board, Brennan says, "I never thought I would witness what I've been seeing over the past year as far as what is happening to our government, the dishonesty, the lack of integrity, the lack of ethics ..."
Watch: (22:14)
Trump Revokes Security Clearance of John Brennan, Former C.I.A. Director (New York Times)
Trump revokes ex-CIA director John Brennan's security clearance (CNN)