Former CIA Director John Brennan protested President Trump’s “lawlessness” in his first public missive since it was reported U.S. Attorney John Durham is increasingly focused on the Obama-era spymaster.
With the late Friday firing of Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community inspector general who told Congress about a whistleblower complaint that sparked an impeachment investigation, Brennan claimed Trump was removing yet another official trying to hold him in check.
“One more example of Trump removing those who seek to stop his lawlessness. All Americans fed up with Trump’s incompetence, venality, & narcissism have the opportunity to ‘fire’ him in November — the most important election of our lifetime,” Brennan tweeted on Saturday.
One more example of Trump removing those who seek to stop his lawlessness. All Americans fed up with Trump’s incompetence, venality, & narcissism have the opportunity to “fire” him in November—the most important election of our lifetime. https://t.co/wvpjWsnCOQ
— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) April 4, 2020
Brennan is one of several officials from the Obama administration that the president and his allies have criticized and accused of improperly targeting his campaign during the 2016 election. Among the other leaders some Trump supporters cite as “deep state” agents are former FBI Director James Comey, whom the president fired in 2017, and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who was pushed out of the bureau in 2018.
Brennan often criticizes Trump on social media and on MSNBC, where he is a contributor. Last week he lashed out at the president for calling Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a “friend.”
“MBS is responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. That you refer to him as a ‘friend’ is telling of your total lack of morality, ethics, & integrity,” he tweeted.
Brennan was far from the only one alarmed by Trump’s sudden firing of Atkinson, who is on administrative leave until his removal is official in 30 days. Democrats condemned the decision as one meant to “retaliate against those who dare to expose presidential wrongdoing.” There was also some ambivalence among Republicans. Acknowledging Trump’s brief letter to Congress saying he lost confidence in the inspector general, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley declared “more details are needed from the administration.”
Brennan’s latest tweet came after the Wall Street Journal reported Durham’s review of the Russia investigation is putting increased scrutiny on the former CIA chief, searching for any undue influence he may have had during 2017’s intelligence community assessment of Russian interference. A spokesman for Brennan declined to comment on that report.
Democrats have criticized Durham’s now-criminal investigation, being overseen by Attorney General William Barr, as a politically motivated scheme to undermine the work of former special counsel Robert Mueller and attack Trump’s perceived enemies.
