Nancy Pelosi has savaged Donald Trump’s plan to revoke security clearances for former Obama-era national security chiefs who have publicly criticized him.
Pelosi slammed the potential plan, which White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders revealed on Monday, and called it a ‘deflection’ after Trump received intense criticism for his statements at last week’s Helsinki summit.
‘This is so extraordinary,’ Pelosi said on Monday night. ‘The last thing you want in intelligence is partisanship, and we were able to avoid that for so long.’
Pelosi delivered the comments as she, Rep Adam Schiff, and Rep Eliot Engel introduced a new resolution condemning Trump’s Helsinki comments.
Nancy Pelosi, along with Rep Adam Schiff (left) and Rep Eliot Engel (right) has savaged Donald Trump’s plan to revoke security clearances for former Obama-era national security chiefs
Pelosi slammed the potential plan, which White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders revealed on Monday, and called it a ‘deflection’ after Trump received intense criticism in Helsinki
The House Minority Leader said that Trump’s threats against officials, including former CIA chief John Brennan and former FBI director James Comey, were proof that the resolution was necessary.
‘This makes the case. We are the first branch of government, the legislative branch. We have views that need to be respected,’ she said.
‘We have decisions that we must make. We need to know what happened in Helsinki. And the president’s response? “Oh, we’re going to take classified security privileges of some of Obama’s people away”‘.
‘It’s all a deflection,’ Pelosi continued.
Pelosi delivered the comments as she, Rep Adam Schiff, and Rep Eliot Engel introduced a new resolution condemning Trump’s comments supporting Vladimir Putin
Sanders first revealed that the likes of Brennan and Comey could lose their clearance, which she claimed they were using for political means and financial gain.
Former deputy FBI directorAndrew McCabe, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former Director of the National Security Agency Michael Hayden, and former National Security Advisor Susan Rice are also on the White House list.
‘The president is exploring the mechanisms to remove security clearances because they’ve politicized and in some cases monetized their clearances,’ Sanders said.
‘It’s extremely inappropriate, and the fact that people with security clearances are making baseless charges provides inappropriate legitimacy to accusations with zero evidence,’ she added.
It’s unclear what she meant by the monetization accusation. Some of the former officials are contributors to news networks, which pay them for their work.
Former CIA director John Brennan (left) and former director of National Intelligence James Clapper (right) are in danger of losing their security clearances after angering the president
Former FBI director James Comey and Former deputy director Andrew McCabe were also on the White House hit list, despite the fact that both men no longer has a security clearance
But all of the officials have been deeply critical of the Trump administration in one way or another.
Asked if the White House was doing this because of their criticism, Sanders responded: ‘I think you are creating your own story there.’
But Schiff argued that the plan was a ‘cowardly action of someone who is afraid of criticism’.
‘Today’s action suggesting that we will punish critics of the president by stripping them of their security clearance? That is not what you see in a democracy,’ he said.
‘That is exactly what you see in authoritarian regimes, and we couldn’t have a more timely proof of why this resolution is necessary than by what I consider despicable action and that is to try to silence critics.’
Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice and former NSA director Michael Hayden are also in danger of losing their security clearance
Schiff said Congress needed to ‘stand up to it’ and called on Republicans to ‘wake up and speak on behalf of our Democracy’.
Pelosi likewise hit at House Republicans, saying they were ‘complicit in the president’s betrayal of our democracy’.
‘As the whole world knows, one week ago, President Trump sold out our democracy in behavior that was damaging, destructive and disgraceful,’ she said.
‘Today Democrats are introducing a resolution to condemn the president’s failure to stand up to Putin’s attacks on our election, on our democracy.’
‘This is a very important and pivotal moment for our country.’
Pelosi acknowledged that the resolution likely would not passed the Republican-controlled House, but said she felt it was important to speak up and defend the ‘security of the United States of America’.
‘We cannot appear to endorse what the president is doing by our silence,’ she added.
‘I doubt the Republicans will allow this to come to a vote. All we’re saying is do something.’
At least two of the officials — Comey and McCabe — do not currently have clearances, according to The Washington Post.
Comey hasn’t had a security clearance for many months, a source close to him told the paper.
McCabe’s clearance was likewise deactivated when he was fired from the FBI, said his spokesman Melissa Schwartz.
‘Andrew McCabe’s security clearance was deactivated when he was terminated, according to what we were told was FBI policy,’ she wrote on Twitter. ‘You would think the White House would check with the FBI before trying to throw shiny objects to the press corps.’
Clapper, who is also at risk of losing his clearance, called the move ‘a petty thing to do.’
‘For political reasons this is a petty way of retribution I suppose for speaking out against the president which I think, on the part of all of us, are borne out of genuine concerns about President Trump,’ he told CNN.
‘Security clearance has nothing to do with how I or any of us feel about the president,’ Clapper added.
‘And I don’t get the briefings. I don’t have access to classified information. It’s frankly more of a courtesy that former senior officials get the security clearance. Haven’t had a case of using it. Has no bearing on my regard or lack thereof for President Trump or what he’s doing.’
Meanwhile, Hayden tweeted whether or not he had a clearance would not affect his work.
‘I dont go back for classified briefings. Won’t have any effect on what I say or write,’ he wrote.
While Clapper and Hayden have said their clearance status doesn’t matter, other officials do use their security clearance to perform lucrative consulting work.
The threat of losing their status and, therefore, any employment obtained on the contingency of having a clearance, could have a chilling effort on potential critics.
A security clearance requires a security clearance investigation completed within the past five years for a Top Secret clearance and 10 years for a Secret clearance, according to the State Department website.
High-level officials also typically keep their clearances for years so they can provide counsel to their successors and be called upon by their advice.
There are 13 guidelines that, if violated, could result in a security clearance being revoked. They include criminal activity, sudden unexplained wealth, helping a foreign government, alcohol or drug addiction, and unauthorized disclosure of classified information.
Any president can classify or declassify information as he see fits. It’s unclear if Trump could simply order the clearances revoked.
Michael Hayden tweeted a loss of security clearance would not affect his work
A spokesperson for Andrew McCabe said he lost his clearance when he was fired