National Security Adviser John Bolton on Sunday suggested that former CIA Director John Brennan might have misused classified information, and that the “unprecedented leaks” from the administration may prompt broader changes in how security clearances are handled.
Bolton was in Israel for the first time as a Trump administration official to discuss national security issues with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials.
“Whether [Brennan] actually used classified information, I think people will be able to determine, but I think that’s a serious problem,” Bolton said. “There is a line, and I think it’s clear some people can cross it.
My opinion is that he was politicizing intelligence,” Bolton added, saying Brennan had failed to keep intact the “wall of separation between intelligence and policy.”
Host Martha Raddatz ultimately challenged Bolton: “You’re not sure whether John Brennan used classified information? You have no specific examples.”
Bolton replied, “I think a number of people have commented that [Brennan] couldn’t be in the position he’s in of criticizing President Trump and his so-called collusion with Russia unless he did use classified information. But I don’t know the specifics.”
President Trump revoked Brennan’s security clearance on Wednesday, saying he had politicized his security clearance and misled Congress about CIA spying in the Senate.
A larger review of who can retain security clearances after leaving the federal government may be warranted, Bolton added.
National security adviser John Bolton says in addition to Russia, there’s “sufficient national security concern” that China, Iran, and North Korea are meddling in the 2018 U.S. elections.
“Those are the four countries that we’re most concerned about” https://t.co/eYlWTEQpta pic.twitter.com/a5ihTMwUGo
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) August 19, 2018
“I think it’s certainly appropriate in a time of unprecedented leaks of classified info,” Bolton said. “I don’t see that there would be anything wrong if it were determined to go that way to review the policies about former officials having clearances. Sometimes it can be useful.”
Brennan had publicly accused President Trump of “treason” after his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin this summer in Helsinki, Finland, and he has repeatedly lambasted Trump with Twitter posts that critics have charged improperly hint at classified insider information about the ongoing Russia probe.
On Sunday, Brennan claimed on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “I don’t believe I’m being political at all.”
He also suggested he might take legal action against the president.
“If my clearances and my reputation as I’m being pulled through the mud now — if that’s the price we’re going to pay to prevent Donald Trump from doing this against other people, to me it’s a small price to pay,” Brennan said. “I’m going to do whatever I can personally to try to prevent these abuses in the future, and if it means going to court, I will do that.”
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, a critic of Trump’s decision to revoke Brennan’s clearance, acknowledged that Brennan’s unfettered comments had become an “issue.”
“John and his rhetoric have become an issue in and of itself,” Clapper said Sunday. “John is sort of like a freight train, and he’s going to say what’s on his mind.”
Via FoxNews
