Our live coverage has ended. Scroll through the posts below to read about today’s White House press briefing.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins described President Trump’s move to strip former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance as “unwise.”
Collins said Brennan has been “far too political in his statements.” But she added “unless there was a disclosure of classified information of which I’m unaware, I don’t see the grounds for revoking his security clearance.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden called President Trump’s decision to revoke former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance “an act unbecoming of a president.”
Read his tweet:
What happened: Earlier today, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders read a statement from the President regarding his decision to revoke Brennan’s security clearance. In the statement, Trump accused Brennan of lying and said the former CIA director’s “recent conduct characterized by increasingly frenzied commentary is wholly inconsistent with access to the nation’s most closely held secrets.”
The White House provided no evidence that Brennan has misused his security clearance since leaving government.
While Brennan has been a vocal critic of the President since Trump took office – calling him unfit to serve – he is well-regarded by both Republicans and Democrats as a seasoned national security expert.
Sen. Mark Warner, ranking member in the Senate Intelligence Committee, said revoking former CIA Director John Brennan’s clearance is an effort to “distract” the American public and called it an “eerie memory of an enemy’s list.”
He said Trump’s action “smacks of Nixonian types of practices.”
When asked what he will do to push back, Warner said he would begin talks with senators from both parties, calling it “unchartered territory” and they would try to stop this from being a “normal practice.”
Warner said he wouldn’t be surprised if the White House tries to strip special counsel Robert Mueller’s team of its security clearances.
Former CIA Director John Brennan just responded on Twitter to the announcement that President Trump had stripped him of his security clearance, saying the President is trying to suppress freedom of speech and punish critics.
Read his full tweet:
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders today named nine former US officials, whose security clearances were being scrutinized by President Trump.
She said Trump was looking at stripping their security clearances, and announced that the President had also revoked former CIA Director John Brennan’s clearances.
Four of those officials — Susan Rice, former United States national security advisor; Sally Yates, former US deputy attorney general; Lisa Page, former lawyer for the FBI; and Bruce Ohr, former associate deputy attorney general — declined to comment on Sanders’ announcement.
Sanders also named:
Former NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden, a CNN national security analyst, responds to news President Trump is considering revoking his security clearance:
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders just announced that former CIA director John Brennan’s security clearance has been revoked.
Here’s what you need to know about him:
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper just called into CNN to react to the news that President Trump had revoked former CIA chief John Brennan’s security clearance – and he may lose his soon, too.
He said that while he hasn’t had any access to current intelligence since leaving the government in January 2017, he has consulted with certain senior members of the current administration. He said he wouldn’t name them “for their own protection.”
But as for the implications of Trump’s act, Clapper said it was more of a First Amendment issue than anything else:
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats was not consulted on revoking the clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan, an official with knowledge said.
Moments ago: White House press secretary Sarah Sanders defended the decision to revoke Brennan’s security clearance as one aimed at fulfilling the President’s “constitutional responsibility to protect classified information.”
She added: “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 this responsibility.”
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders just read off a list of former officials President Trump is considering revoking security clearances for.
On that list was Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI.
McCabe’s lawyer just responded on Twitter.
Here’s the full tweet:
What McCabe’s spokesperson said about his security clearance
On July 23, Melissa Schwartz, a strategic and crisis communications consultant, said McCabe’s security clearance was already deactivated when he was terminated.
McCabe’s clearance was revoked “according to what we were told was FBI policy,” she tweeted.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders insisted Wednesday that the increase in steel and aluminum tariffs impacting Turkey are not linked to the continued imprisonment of Pastor Andrew Brunson.
But when pressed to explain what has changed to impact the national security rationale for the tariffs in the last month, Sanders had nothing new to offer.
“The President’s been clear about the steel and aluminum industries. Those are industries that must be protected,” Sanders said.
She offered no new information to justify an increase in the tariffs with regard to Turkey.
But that’s not what Vice President Mike Pence has said: Speaking to Fox News on July 29th, Pence said, “The United States of America is prepared to bring sanctions against Turkey until Pastor Andrew Brunson is free.”
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders was just asked whether President Trump has recently spoken with his former campaign manager Paul Manafort.
She said she was “not aware of any recent conversations that they’ve had.”
Pressed on whether the President believes he is still being treated unfairly, as he said in June, Sanders said that Trump has “made that clear in his previous comments.”
Why this matters: Manafort is charged with 18 counts of tax and banking crimes, and has pleaded not guilty to all charges. His criminal case is currently on trial in Virginia.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, who just announced that President Trump is revoking the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan, said the President is also looking at the possibility of revoking more former officials’ security clearances.
These are the people he’s looking into:
Asked by a reporter if today’s announcement was simply the President getting back at his critics and penalizing them for being critical on television, Sanders said, “Not at all.”
“The President has a constitutional responsibility to protect classified information, and who has access to it. And that’s what he is doing, is fulfilling that responsibility and this action. This is actually specific to Mr. Brennan, and the others are currently under review,” she said.
Watch:
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, quoting a statement by President Trump, outlined the reasons why President Trump felt he needed to revoke ex-CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance.
“First, at this point in my administration, any benefits that senior officials might glean from consultations with Mr. Brennan are now outweighed by the risks posed by his erratic conduct and behavior,” Trump claimed.
“Second, that conduct and behavior has tested and far exceeded the limits of any professional courtesy that may have been due to him. Mr. Brennan has a history that calls into question his objectivity and credibility.”
One specific example Trump cited in his announcement, according to Sarah Sanders, was the CIA’s infiltration of Senate computers during Brennan’s time at the helm of the CIA.
Brennan has “recently leveraged his status” as a former official to “make a series of unfounded allegations” about the administrations, which she called “increasingly frenzied commentary.”
She continued, “Such access is particularly inappropriate when such officials have transitioned into highly political positions.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders just opened today’s press briefing with a stunning announcement: President Trump has revoked ex-CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance.
Sanders, reading from a letter written by Trump, said:
Watch:
Sarah Sanders’ Tuesday press briefing opened as she planned, with defense officials discussing the possible repatriated remains of unnamed US troops killed during the Korean War. But it quickly went sideways.
First, the White House press secretary was asked about President Trump’s language on Twitter calling Omarosa Manigault Newman a “crazed, crying lowlife” and a “dog.” She sought to defend the President, claiming he was “voicing frustration.” Sanders added it had “nothing to do with race and everything to do with the President calling out someone’s lack of integrity.”
She was then pressed specifically on whether any recording of the President using the n-word exists. Sanders said: “I can’t guarantee anything,” before adding Trump has already addressed the question.
During the briefing, as Sanders sought to defend the President’s record on race, she then incorrectly claimed Trump has already tripled Obama’s record over eight years for creating jobs for black workers. She later issued a rare correction and apologized.
