The former Director of National Intelligence has hit back at an ex-CIA chief embroiled in a bitter war of words with president Donald Trump.
James Clapper said Sunday on CNN that he thinks John Brennan’s anti-Trump rhetoric is becoming an issue ‘in and of itself’.
‘John is subtle like a freight train and he’s gonna say what’s on his mind,’ Clapper said, in response to a scathing New York Times op-ed by Brennan saying that the president colluded with Russians during the 2016 presidential election and Trump’s denial is ‘hogwash’.
‘I think that the common denominator among all of us (in the intelligence community) that have been speaking up … is genuine concern about the jeopardy and threats to our institutions and values,’ Clapper said, ‘and although we may express that in different and I think that’s what this is really about.’
James Clapper said he thinks Brennan’s rhetoric about president Trump is becoming an ‘issue’ and said the former CIA director is as subtle as a ‘freight train’

Brennan has been an outspoken critic of Trump, asserting that the president colluded with Russia and his meeting with Putin was ‘treasonous’
The president blasted Brennan, tweeting early Saturday morning that the former CIA director ‘is a loudmouth, partisan, political hack who cannot be trusted.’
‘Has anyone looked at the mistakes that John Brennan made while serving as CIA Director?,’ Trump wrote on his Twitter account.
‘He will go down as easily the WORST in history & since getting out, he has become nothing less than a loudmouth, partisan, political hack who cannot be trusted with the secrets to our country!’ he added.
His comments come in the midst of a war of words between the two men after President Trump revoked Brennan’s security clearance Wednesday due to the the former CIA official being an outspoken critic of his.

The president tweeted early Saturday morning insulting the former CIA director

Donald Trump called John Brennan a’loudmouth, partisan, political hack’
Brennan is a longstanding critic of Trump, in July accusing him of being ‘wholly in the pocket of Putin’ and his conduct ‘nothing short of treasonous.’
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders made the stunning announcement of Brennan’s security clearance Wednesday, citing Brennan’s purported ‘erratic conduct and behavior.’
In response, Brennan wrote an op-ed in the New York Times revealing that he believes Trump is attempting to silence those who may oppose him.
He wrote that the president’s statements that there was no collusion were ‘hogwash’ and that the only question now was whether or not the collusion that took place ‘constituted criminally liable conspiracy.’
On Friday, Brennan continued his public attack against Trump saying on MSNBC that Trump is ‘drunk on power and abusing the powers of that office.’
‘These are very frightening times,’ he added.
The president retorted: ‘There’s no silence. If anything I’m giving him a bigger voice.’
Trump spoke to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House before leaving for a pair of Long Island events and a weekend at his Bedminster, New Jersey, estate Friday.
‘Many people don’t even know who he is, and now he has a bigger voice. And that’s okay with me because I like taking on voices like that,’ he said of Brennan.
‘I’ve never respected him. I’ve never had a lot of respect.’

The president has been vocal on Twitter in his criticism of Brennan

On Thursday, Trump got a stinging rebuke from a retired naval admiral William McRaven, who mockingly implored him to revoke his own security clearance as a show of solidarity with Brennan.
‘I don’t know McRaven,’ Trump said Friday, declaring that ‘I’ve gotten tremendous response from having done that because security clearances are very important to me. Very, very important.’
A dozen former American intelligence chiefs have also supported Brennan, lashing out at Trump Friday for yanking the security clearance as a ‘political tool.’
The White House is now threatening to cancel security clearances of nine other officials – seen in some circles as a warning shot across the collective bow of his political enemies.
Senior administration officials tell the Washington Post that the White House has drafted documents to revoke the security clearances of current and former officials as Trump’s punishment for criticizing him or playing a role in the Russia investigation.