President Trump on Tuesday wondered whether former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is suddenly playing nice with the White House in order to keep his security clearance.
Clapper on Sunday said former CIA Director John Brennan lost his security clearance in part because of his harsh public criticism of Trump.
“John is sort of like a freight train and he’s going to say what’s on his mind,” Clapper said Sunday. “John and his rhetoric have become, I think, an issue in an of itself.”
Trump seemed to enjoy Clapper’s remarks and said it could be a sign he’s looking to hang onto his own security clearance.
“Even James Clapper has admonished John Brennan for having gone totally off the rails,” Trump tweeted Tuesday. “Maybe Clapper is being nice to me so he doesn’t lose his Security Clearance for lying to Congress!”
Even James Clapper has admonished John Brennan for having gone totally off the rails. Maybe Clapper is being nice to me so he doesn’t lose his Security Clearance for lying to Congress!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2018
Lawmakers have criticized Clapper for testifying in 2013 that the NSA was not collecting any data on Americans. But soon after, NSA leaker Edward Snowden revealed the government was collecting phone data on millions of people.
Clapper later admitted he was wrong and said he “simply didn’t think” of the giant call data mining operation.
