The lawyer representing former FBI special agent Peter Strzok warned Wednesday that President Trump had pushed the country closer toward an authoritarian state with the revocation of ex-CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance.
“By revoking Director Brennan’s clearance and threatening the security clearance of Pete and seven other former officials on Trump’s ‘enemies list,’ the President has taken us down one more step on the path toward authoritarianism,” Aitan Goelman, Strzok’s attorney, wrote in a statement.
[Also read: Senate GOP mixed on revoking Brennan’s security clearance]
NEW: @petestrzok attorney statement on @realDonaldTrump decision to revoke @JohnBrennan #securityclearance : pic.twitter.com/6dWXA4VePX
— Brooke Singman (@brookefoxnews) August 16, 2018
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced Wednesday Trump had pulled Brennan’s clearance over concerns regarding his “erratic behavior,” arguing that disqualified him from having access to sensitive information.
The development follows the administration in July naming a number of former intelligence and law enforcement officials whose own clearances had come under review after they had spoken out about the president. Strzok was included on the list, despite not having clearance in June.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions told a conservative talk show host that month Strzok no longer had clearance as part of an internal disciplinary process following a Justice Department’s inspector general investigation. That probe revealed he sent disparaging texts about Trump before the 2016 election to FBI lawyer Lisa Page, with whom he was having an extramarital affair. The pair had both been briefly assigned to special counsel Robert Mueller’s federal Russia investigation.
Strzok was fired from the FBI by Deputy Director David Bowdich on Friday, walking back a bureau personnel decision that he only be demoted and face a 60-day suspension for his misconduct. It is unclear whether his clearance was reinstated between Sessions’ comments and his official dismissal.
“Security clearances are supposed to be based on the need to protect our most sensitive information,” Goelman said Wednesday. “They should not be suspended or revoked as a way of punishing people who have criticized the President, or coercing others into silence.”
