Trump withdraws ex-CIA director's security clearance

Washington D.C. [USA], Aug 16 (ANI): United States President Donald Trump has cancelled the security clearance of former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director John Brennan, who used to deride the former on various issues.

In a statement, Trump blamed Brennan, a former government official, of using his post for making "unfounded and outrageous" charges against the government, The Hill reported.

"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 very aim of our adversaries, which is to sow division and chaos," the US President elucidated.

He added, "As the head of the executive branch and the commander in chief, I have a unique constitutional responsibility to protect the nation's classified information, including by controlling access to it."

Brennan has been a vocal critic of the US President, engaging in a war-of-words on Twitter on a regular basis, particularly on Trump's presidency.

Trump's decision to revoke Brennan's security clearance came after the White House announced last month that the US President was considering to withdraw the status on the latter and other intelligence officials, who were criticising the administration, the report said.

Currently, Trump is considering to revoke the security clearances on several officials, which includes former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey, former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and former FBI agent Peter Strzok to name a few.

The US President continued that the conduct of Brennan and critics of the Trump administration "raises questions about the practice of former officials maintaining access to our nation's sensitive secrets long after their time in government has ended."

Last month, Brennan termed Trump's comments on Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential polls as "nothing short of treasonous." (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI