US President Donald Trump has dared former CIA director John Brennan to take legal action to try to prevent him from stripping security clearances from other current and former officials.
"I hope John Brennan, the worst CIA Director in our country's history, brings a lawsuit," Trump tweeted on Monday. "It will then be very easy to get all of his records, texts, emails and documents to show not only the poor job he did, but how he was involved with" the Russia probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller. "He won't sue!"
The war of words between Trump and Brennan continued as scores more former US national security employees joined a wave of opposition to the president's threat to continue pulling clearances. To date, more than 250 have publicly expressed opposition.
Speaking Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, Brennan said he's been contacted by a number of lawyers about the possibility of an injunction following Trump's move to revoke his clearance and threaten nine others who have been critical of the president or are connected to Mueller's investigation, which Trump has called witch hunt.
Trump yanked Brennan's security clearance on Wednesday, saying he felt he had to do "something" about the "rigged" probe of Russian election interference. And he has said he may do the same for nine others, including a Justice Department official whose wife worked for the firm involved in producing a dossier on Trump's ties to Russia.
Soon after, the retired Navy admiral who oversaw the raid that killed Osama bin Laden called Trump's moves "McCarthy-era tactics". Writing in The Washington Post, William H. McRaven said he would "consider it an honour" if Trump would revoke his clearance, as well.
That was followed by a joint letter from 15 former senior intelligence officials, who said the president's decision had "nothing to do with who should and should not hold security clearances - and everything to do with an attempt to stifle free speech". The signatories included seven former CIA directors, six former CIA deputy directors and two former national intelligence directors, James Clapper and retired Navy Admiral Denny Blair.
A day later, 60 former senior CIA officials added their names.
This past weekend, the organisers of the initial messages were inundated with more than 175 additional requests to sign on to the opposition, not only from people who have worked in intelligence, but also senior officials who had worked at the State, Defence and Justice departments, the National Security Council and NASA. They issued a letter of their own on Monday.
"Everybody wants to keep their Security Clearance, it's worth great prestige and big dollars, even board seats, and that is why certain people are coming forward to protect Brennan," Trump said in another tweet on Monday. "It certainly isn't because of the good job he did! He is a political "hack".
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