“President” Trump is telling his advisers that he is eager to pull the security clearances of more people that have been involved in the intelligence community and been critical of Trump, according to the Washington Post.
Of course he is, that’s what Trump does, attack anyone he believes can hurt him, or attack their wives, or call them dogs, you get the idea.
So, the natural tendency for all of us is to think of these soon to be yanked security clearances as the equivalent of an enemies list. It is that, for sure. But, that’s not the primary reason for yanking these clearances, nor are they simply petty bull shit moves “just because I can.”
As Trump often does, he has – without realizing he has done it – told us exactly why he is yanking these clearances.
The real truth came out this afternoon, when Trump summoned two Wall Street Journal reporters back to his office, from the WaPo story:
Later that afternoon, Trump summoned a Wall Street Journal reporter into the Oval Office for an impromptu interview in which he linked Brennan’s clearance revocation to the “sham” Russia investigation.
“These people led it,” he said, referring to Brennan and others. “So I think it’s something that had to be done.”
Trump just admitted that he pulled the security clearance because these people were the ones that started the investigation, meaning they are not just enemies, but they are critical witnesses – the top cops, the ones that were on the beat when they found out all that was going on between Trump and Russia. Trump just told us that he is attempting to punish, or do something in response to the people who started the investigation against him.
His goal is to muddy-up the witnesses, make them look bad, “they had their clearances revoked …” sounds bad, even if it is a naked political (or criminal) ploy to lift himself up.
The Wall Street Journal, owned by the same man who owns Fox News had the “scoop.” They had the direct quote from Trump stating that his action really relates to the fact that they started a hoax investigation. Yet, the Wall Street Journal did something peculiar with that story – they buried it. In fact, by the time Rachel Maddow’s show ran, the story had “disappeared” from the Wall Street Journal web page.
Why?
Likely, because the Wall Street Journal is more pro-Trump than any other paper, it is because that quote demonstrates direct obstruction of justice. Trump is going after the witnesses, and that is obstruction of justice – he’s admitting it, again.
Look at the rest of the list that Huck-Sand read from the podium without any sense of shame today; Clapper, Yates, Comey, etc. they all go back to the point of origin, when the American intelligence community first learned of Trump’s campaign contacts with Russia in 2015. Trump is not creating an enemies list. He is not punishing people for speaking out, well – yes, he is doing that, too, as a side effect. No, Trump is attempting yet again to save his sorry self from what is so obviously NOT a hoax, his criminal ties to Russia.
After all, this decision didn’t come up in a vacuum:
Trump grew increasingly agitated about Brennan and others earlier in the summer, believing they were exploiting their credentials as former national security officials to make money, aides said. The president mentioned the Russia investigation when discussing the matter in private and drafted a list of officials who have angered him for Sanders to read at the lectern in the White House briefing room, the aides said.
It is not an enemies list. It is a witness list, and thus it was “something that needed to be done.”
Problem is, as James Clapper asked yesterday; “Where does this end? Will he pull Robert Mueller’s security clearance, thus making Mueller’s team unable to get the evidence they needed?”
We will see.
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