Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn ripped Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Tuesday for allowing Hillary Clinton to receive classified intelligence briefings during the remainder of the presidential campaign.
“I totally disagree,” Flynn, who was head of the Defense Intelligence Agency until 2014, said of Clapper’s decision in an interview with the Washington Examiner.
“I think it’s a slap in the face to every person who’s held a security clearance properly and done all the hard work to maintain that security clearance that is required,” he added.
Flynn, who is reportedly under consideration to be Donald Trump’s running mate, said he believes other Americans — especially those within the intelligence community — likely share in his frustration.
“It’s a slap in the face,” he repeated. “And I know that people are going to feel that way.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., in a letter sent to Clapper last week, requested that the top intelligence official “refrain from providing any classified information [to Clinton] for the duration of her candidacy for president.”
Ryan’s request was submitted shortly after FBI Director James Comey publicly denounced the former secretary of state’s “extremely careless” handling of classified material and rebuked several of Clinton’s previous claims about her email practices.
Clapper responded to Ryan late Monday evening, saying he does “not intend to withhold briefings from any officially nominated, eligible candidate.”
“We obviously disagree with the decision and want to know what precautions will be taken and what assurances the director can give that Secretary Clinton won’t mishandle classified information,” said Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong, adding that Clinton “has proven herself untrustworthy.”
