US President Donald Trump's threat to revoke the security clearances of former top officials critical of his administration has left congressional leaders stunned and confused, with the House speaker shrugging it off as a bit of "trolling".
"I think he's just trolling people, honestly," Republican Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters on Tuesday with a laugh.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was surprised to learn that some of the former top national security and intelligence officials still had access to classified information. But both GOP leaders were leaving the president's plan to the White House.
"I don't have any particular advice to give the president," McConnell said.
"It's an interesting question I'll look forward to seeing what the president decides on it."
Ryan said it is "something that's in the purview of the executive branch."
Democrats and some Republicans, though, viewed the threat against the six former officials with much more concern.
Democrat Senator Chris Coons said the list of those named by the White House "exactly coincides with those who've been publicly critical of the president".
"This is the sort of attack on free speech, the press and the rights of individuals to speak out in our country that really doesn't serve the president well," Coons told CNN.
The threat to deny the officials access to classified information is the latest escalation in the president's war with members of the US intelligence community.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday said Trump was "exploring the mechanisms" to strip clearance from former CIA Director John Brennan as well as five other former officials who have held some of the most sensitive positions in government: former FBI Director Jim Comey; James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence; former CIA Director Michael Hayden; former national security adviser Susan Rice; and Andrew McCabe, who served as Trump's deputy FBI director until he was fired in March.
The leaders have served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, including Trump's. But at least two of the former officials, McCabe and Comey, do not currently have security clearances, making the threat moot.
Sanders accused the officials of having "politicised and in some cases monetised their public service and security clearances" by making "baseless accusations" that the Trump administration had improper contact with Russia or was influenced by Russia.
Sanders did not cite specific comments made by any of the officials. But the president has been seething over the backlash to his meeting last week with Russia's Vladimir Putin and the ongoing investigations into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, whether his campaign aides were involved in the effort and whether he obstructed justice.
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