Former CIA Director John Brennan hit back at President Trump on Wednesday by comparing him to 'despots and autocrats' after the president's stunning decision to yank the security clearance of the former spy chief who has become a fierce public critic.

The White House announced the decision Wednesday afternoon in an extraordinary slap at Brennan that other former spymasters called an effort to intimidate them all from exercising their First Amendment right to render criticism against the president. Brennan vowed not to relent.

'I've seen this type of behavior and actions on the part of foreign tyrants and despots and autocrats for many, many years during my CIA and national security career,' Brennan told MSNBC. 'I never, ever thought that I would see it here in the United States.'

Calling in to the network hours after the decision was revealed to the nation at a televised briefing at the White House, Brennan said, 'If Mr. Trump believes that this is going to lead me to just go away and be quiet, he is very badly mistaken.'

He called the move Trump's 'way of getting back at me and a bid 'to intimidate and suppress any criticism of him or his administration.'

Ex-CIA chief John Brennan has been a harsh critic of President Trump and has called him a virtual puppet of Russian President Vladimir Putin

Brennan also blasted the decision on Twitter, flexing his independence after the White House accused him of making 'wild outbursts on the internet and television' about the current administration.

'This action is part of a broader effort by Mr. Trump to suppress freedom of speech & punish critics. It should gravely worry all Americans, including intelligence professionals, about the cost of speaking out. My principles are worth far more than clearances. I will not relent,' he wrote.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced the stunning move from the White House briefing room podium as the building was engulfed in controversy over the new tell-all book penned by former aide Omarosa Manigault-Newman.

Sanders had been unable to guarantee a day earlier from the same podium that a tape would never emerge of Trump saying the N-word on the set of 'The Apprentice' or in some other context. Manigault-Newman has claimed to have heard such a recording.

Trump did not personally weigh in on the news until six hours later.

Even then, he just quoted former Secret Service agent and failed Republican politician Dan Bongino on Twitter.

'John Brennan is a stain on the Country, we deserve better than this,' Bongino said.

Trump told him, 'Thank you Dan, and good luck with the book!'

WHAT DOES LOSING A SECURITY CLEARANCE MEAN FOR FORMER SPYMASTER? Ex-government officials are conventionally able to retain their security clearances after they've departed their jobs in order to be able to provide consultation to their prior agencies. Sometimes, agencies call in ex-federal officials for advice on matters of national security or other topics. 'The purpose is not to benefit the individual. It's to benefit the government,' former Acting CIA Director Mike Morrell told CBS in July. 'So, for example, I go into CIA regularly and I help them think through issues, I talk to people, I'm there to assist in any variety of ways.' In the case of fired former officials, like former FBI Director James Comey, their clearance is stripped immediately. But ex-CIA directors and agents and other top-level officials are able to keep them in perpetuity. Issuing departments review individuals who have been granted clearance every five years to make sure they still meet the requirements to hold the security document. Private citizens can also apply for and obtain security clearance in order to win government contracts or represent government clients. Even the nation's former spy chiefs do not have access to the government's most sensitive information when they leave the CIA, however. They do not receive briefings on ongoing investigations, either, and can be denied access to those materials, said Morrell. Some do go to work for outside contractors which require clearances, and there are many examples of those who do - but none of the list of names given by the White House are in that category. Being stripped of clearance would keep affected individuals from continuing to be of service - if they were wanted. Morell told CBS, 'I also serve on a government commission that I could not serve on without having my clearances.' The reality is that Brennan and - if they are stripped of them - the other critics are not using their clearance at all. Trump is hardly going to have them in to help his agencies and none are doing work which involves access to secrets. Advertisement

Sanders was the face of the clearance dispute on Wednesday after making the announcement about Brennan at a briefing where she withstood repeated questioning about why each of the officials targeted for review has been a prominent Trump critic or otherwise features in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe.

Fired Trump National Security Advisor and retired Gen. Mike Flynn, who has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, was notably left off the list of former officials who were considered a threat.

The chief Trump spokeswoman said clearances that were issued to nine current and former officials, including fired former FBI director James Comey, fired FBI agent Peter Strzok, current Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, ex-CIA Director Michael Hayden and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, are 'under review' by the president.

All are prominent Trump opponents, playing a role in the Russia probe Trump has termed a 'witch hunt.'

If the act was meant to silence Trump's critics, it did not have the intended effect. Clapper and Hayden immediately called into CNN. Brennan dialed into MSNBC.

The former CIA director kept up his criticism of Trump’s character and spoke cryptically on the network about what he knows about Russian actions as he absorbed the decision he learned about only Wednesday.

‘I must tell you that Mr. Trump’s dishonesty, his lack of integrity, his nastiness, that mean spiritedness, the types of things that he has just tweeted out in the past 72 hours, the terms that he uses, this is not what I think of an American president, nor of America,’ Brennan said.

‘I know some things that the Russians were involved in, but I certainly don’t know all the things that Mr. Trump has been involved in over the years, and I do not pretend to have that knowledge,’ he continued. ‘He is the one, but clearly his actions are those of somebody who is seeking to prevent the full light of day being shown upon his past,’ Brennan said, clearly linking the decision on his clearance to Mueller’s probe.

‘He may very well have a – a guilty conscience about the types of things that he has done in the past,’ Brennan speculated. ‘I don’t know. He is the one who has to account for those previous actions and whether or not those actions ran afoul of – of ethics and of the law. And I don’t know what he may be concerned about in terms of what might be divulged as part of this investigation or others. But as I have said repeatedly, I find his attitude and behavior toward Vladimir Putin and the Russians very, very puzzling and very, very irrational.'

Among the offenses the Trump statement cited were that Brennan 'leveraged his status' and made 'unfounded and outrageous allegations.' Sanders, reading Trump's statement, cited 'wild outbursts on the Internet and television' and 'increasingly frenzied commentary' – turning the tables on a critic just a day after the president called took flak for calling Omarosa a 'dog' on Twitter.

Brennan blasted the decision on Twitter and said it should 'gravely worry all Americans'

IMBECILIC: Brennan tweeted last month that Trump's conduct with the Russian president was 'treasonous' and said he was 'in the pocket of Putin'

Brennan blasted Trump's 'venality' in a March tweet after the president gloated over the firing of senior FBI official Andrew McCabe

Wednesday's conversation-changing move came less than 24 hours after Sanders was forced to issue an unpredecented apology for an erroneous claim she made from the podium. She slammed African-American unemployment figures from the Obama era that were off by nearly 3 million.

She tweeted a mea culpa that prevented reporters from asking for a deeper explanation of who was to blame after the Council of Economic Advisers, also through Twitter, took the heat for incorrectly briefing her.

Sanders fielded just a single Omarosa-related question the following day as reporters in the room processed the unexpected and breaking news about Brennan.

Trump's statement on the former CIA chief initially carried a date of July 26 when the White House first distributed it to the press. The error either represented yet another case of poor proofreading by the White House or indicated the White House rushed out the statement at the last minute amid the Omarosa tell-all chaos.

Brennan, among other things, has said on TV and online that Trump is being manipulated by Russian President Vladimir Putin. He was among a handful of officials who were present and briefed in the earliest stages of the government's Russia probe of Trump officials during the 2016 campaign.

'Any benefits that senior officials might glean from consultations with Mr. Brennan are now outweighed by the risk posed by his erratic conduct and behavior,' Sanders said.

The White House crackdown on his clearance came after Brennan admonished Trump on Twitter for calling Omarosa a 'dog.'

'It's astounding how often you fail to live up to minimum standards of decency, civility, & probity,' Brennan commented on Trump's tweet. 'Seems like you will never understand what it means to be president, nor what it takes to be a good, decent, & honest person. So disheartening, so dangerous for our Nation,' he wrote.

Brennan also hit back at Trump after he tweeted that it may be 'not presidential' to call Omarosa a 'lowlife' but did so anyway.

'You're absolutely right. If you were 'presidential,' you would focus on healing the rifts within our Nation, being truthful about the challenges we face, & showing the world that America is still that shining beacon of freedom, liberty, prosperity, & goodness that welcomes all,' Brennan wrote.

Sanders laid out the case for his clearance to be revoked in a lengthy statement just as reporters were girding to press her on Manigault-Newman's secret tapings of Trump and his aides.

Several other former officials who have criticized Trump and one DOJ official the president wants to fire also have their clearances under review.

Pressed on why only Trump opponents, and only Trump opponents, found themselves in the cross-hairs, she said that if issues arise for others, the White House would 'take a look and review those as well.'

'Mr. Brennan has a history that calls into question his objectivity and credibility. In 2014, for example, he denied to Congress that CIA officials under his supervision had improperly accessed the computer files of congressional staffers. He told the Council on Foreign Relations that the CIA would never do such a thing. The CIA's inspector general, however, contradicted Mr. Brennan directly, concluding unequivocally that officials had indeed improperly accessed the computer files of congressional staffers.

'More recently Mr. Brennan told Congress that the intelligence community did not make use of the so-called 'Steele Dossier' in an assessment regarding the 2016 election, an assertion contradicted by at least two other senior officials in the intelligence community and all of the facts,' she said.

Mr. Brennan has recently leveraged his status as a former high-ranking official with access to highly sensitive information to make a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations – wild outbursts on the Internet and television' – about the administration White House statement

'Additionally, Mr. Brennan has recently leveraged his status as a former high-ranking official with access to highly sensitive information to make a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations – wild outbursts on the Internet and television' – about the administration,' she continued.

'Mr. Brennan's lying and recent conduct, characterized by increasingly frenzied commentary, is totally inconsistent with access to the nation's most closely held secrets and facilities the very aim of our adversaries, which is to sow division and chaos,' she said.

Sanders added, reading from the Trump statement: 'I have also begun to review the more general question of the access to classified information by government officials. As part of this review, I am evaluating action with respect to the following individuals: James Clapper, James Comey, Michael Hayden, Sally Yates, Susan Rice, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and Bruce Ohr. Security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked, and those who have already lost their security clearance may not be able to have it reinstated.'

Brennan also shot back during a call-in to MSNBC, where he is a paid commentator.

'I'm very concerned about what his might portend,' Brennan said. 'I am concerned that if security clearances are now going to become a political tool' it will 'send a very, very chilling message,' he added.

Brennan said he was 'still absorbing' the move, which the former head of the CIA learned from Sanders' briefing, not through official channels.

He said he wasn't sure whether he would try to challenge the move, as can be done through the courts.

'It's not going to affect my speaking out, my criticisms of Mr. Trump. I'm going to try to do it in a professional way,' Brennan said.

The former FBI director practically urged voters to oust Trump and his supporters from office in the statement that said, 'American voters must not shrug off or be distracted from the terrible behaviors of this president, who lies to the American people every day, encourages racism, is a misogynist'

Comey hasn't had a security clearance for many months. McCabe, a former top FBI official, had his clearance deactivated when he was fired from the FBI, said his spokesman Melissa Schwartz when Sanders first said clearances were on the table.

On CNN, where he is paid to provide commentary, Clapper said that he has not personally had access to current intelligence since January of 2017 when he left the government.

'It seems like they're kind of making up the criterion as they go here,' he said,'on a very individual basis.'

Clapper said the threat of having their clearances revoked is an 'infringement of our right to speak, and apparently the appropriateness of being critical of this president. of which -- in one degree or another, all of us have been.

'I thought the mention of Jim Comey and Andy McCabe, who don't have their clearances any more, it is sort of a cover for naming them in the first place, which was a non-sequitur.'

He vowed, like Brennan, to keep speaking out about actions he disagrees with in the administration.

'I don't plan to stop speaking,' he said. 'There are some things I've agreed with that this administration’s taken, actions they have taken, but lots of things that I don't agree with. So, if they're saying that I can't -- the only way I can speak is to be in an adulation mode of this president, I’m sorry, I don’t think I can sign up for that.'

Comey said in a statement that he posted to Twitter that Trump is once again 'sending a message that he will punish people who disagree with him and reward those who praise him.'

'In a democracy, security clearances should not be used as pawns in a petty political game to distract voters from even bigger problems.'

The former FBI director practically urged voters to oust Trump and his supporters from office in the statement that said, 'American voters must not shrug off or be distracted from the terrible behaviors of this president, who lies to the American people every day, encourages racism, is a misogynist and always puts his own interests above those of the United States of America.'

'Politicians enabling this president should be held accountable in future elections,' he added.

John McLaughlin, the former Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, also slammed the decision on MSNBC – and noted that the action could lead to a court case if Brennan wants to push the issue.

He said the message was: 'Be careful what you say if you have a clearance and if you're worried about having it revoked.'

RUSH JOB: President Trump's statement on Brennan was given to reporters with a nearly month-old date – a possible indication it was rushed out amid the political chaos of the week during Omarosa's book tour

Trump's statement cited Brennan's 'wild outbursts on the internet and television' as a reason for yanking his security clearances

The president is also evaluating clearances of other critics, including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former FBI Director James Comey

Sanders announced the clearance revocation at the top of her briefing, which was suddenly announce just an hour before it was scheduled to being as the White House reeled from criticism that it forced aides to sign non-disclosure agreements that prohibit them from disparaging the president.

Hayden noted the irony on an interview later with CNN, saying, 'To bring two stories that are current full circle and to touch one another, it's almost as if they wanted us to at least implicitly sign a no disparagement agreement.'

Brennan had been blasting Trump on MSNBC's airwaves shortly before Sanders cut him off at the knees.

He said Trump had 'badly sullied' the office of the presidency and smacked him for 'befriending of autocratic governments.' He also called Trump 'the most divisive president we've ever had in the Oval Office.'

But it wasn't just his public statements that put Brennan on Trump's bad side. He played an integral role in the early days of the Russia probe that Trump calls a 'hoax.'

He told the House Intelligence Committee last year he was concerned during the campaign that Trump campaign officials were being manipulated by Russians. As head of the CIA he would have had access to the nation's top-level information.

'I was worried by a number of the contacts that the Russians had with U.S. persons,' Brennan testified, saying he 'felt as though the FBI investigation was certainly well-founded and needed to look into those issues.'

House Speaker Paul Ryan, who gets top level intelligence information as the third highest-ranking, elected official in the government, declined to get into the issue at a Wednesday afternoon conference.

'This is something that is in the purview of the executive branch,' Ryan said of Brennan's revoked clearance.

He noted that some of Trump's named targets no longer had clearances, anyway.

Last month, when asked about the threat that Trump might curtail access to classified information, Ryan had dismissed the issue. 'I think he's trolling people, honestly,' the Republican leader said.

CNN reported that Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats was not informed in advance of the decision. The DNI was also surprised in July amid a live interview with the news that Trump intended to have a second summit this year with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.

Trump had days before, at a joint news conference with Putin, dismissed his national security apparatus' judgement that Russia was responsible for election-timed hacking. He backtracked afterward, saying he believed intelligence community officials like Coats and Brennan who pegged the bad actions to the Kremlin.

Still, the incident laid bare the growing divide between Trump and his own, politically-appointed intelligence and law enforcement officials.

Trump has ordered his attorney general to end the Russia probe, threatening to infringe on the department's independence if Jeff Sessions won't. He has asked twice this week why Sessions has refused to fire Ohr.

Trump's security revenge strike on his critics: Who they are and what they said to infuriate him JOHN BRENNAN, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR Stripped of security clearance Brennan was Obama's CIA director from March 2013 until Trump's inauguration. Has made repeated criticisms of Trump on Twitter and on television, where he is senior national security and intelligence analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. His most high-profile intervention was after Trump's press conference with Vladimir Putin when he tweeted: 'Donald Trump's press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of 'high crimes & misdemeanors.' It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump's comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???' JAMES COMEY, FIRED FBI DIRECTOR Clearance under review Comey was appointed by Obama in September 2013 for an expected ten-year term. He cleared Hillary Clinton and told Trump about the existence of the notorious golden showers dossier. Comey's dramatic firing resulted in the Robert Mueller special counsel examining whether the president was obstructing the investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 election. What the outcome of that probe will be remains to be seen. Comey followed his firing with damaging testimony to Congress, saying memorably 'Lordy, I hope there are tapes' when asked if he had been recorded. His multi-million dollar book deal led to A Higher Loyalty and a series of interviews and speaking engagements in which he flamed Trump. The book revealed gossipt details of Trump's hand size (not unusually small), tan (slightly orange) and hair (looked to be all his), compared Trump to a mob boss and speculated that the golden showers claim was true, saying Trump wanted to eliminate the a 'one per cent chance Melania thought it was true and writing: 'In what kind of marriage, to what kind of man, does a spouse conclude there is only a 99 percent chance her husband didn’t do that?' Since then he has described himself and his wife as ashamed to be American, when they traveled abroad, because of Trump. ANDREW McCABE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY AND ACTING DIRECTOR Clearance under review James Comey's deputy from February 2016, he was acting FBI director after Comey was fired until Christopher Wray was confirmed in August 2017, then fired in January, effective two days before he would have got full retirement benefits from his planned resignation. His firing was for lack of candor with the inspector general investigation into the Clinton email probe, and claims he had leaked, which he denies. His wife had run as a Democrat and Trump had accused him of bias in the Clinton email probe. Now suing the government but the U.S. Attorney in Washington D.C. is considering whether to launch criminal prosecution over the inspector general findings. Afterwards said of his firing: 'I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey.' A GoFundMe for his legal fees raised more than $500,000. JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE Clearance under review Clapper, a retired USAF lieutenant general was Obama's director of national intelligence from August 2010 until the Trump inauguration. He was present when Trump was warned about Russian interference at a briefing in Trump Tower before the inauguration. Since he resigned he has become a CNN analyst and frequent and vocal critic of the president. He said in December of Trump and Putin's relationship that Putin, a former KBG operative 'knows how to handle an asset, and that's what he's doing with the president.' This week he said of Omarosa Manigault-Newman recording her firing in the White House Situation Room that it was an 'unthinkable' security violation to tape what happened there. PETER STRZOK, FIRED FBI AGENT, AND LISA PAGE, EX-FBI LAWYER Clearance under review The two FBI lovers' texts to each other during their affair - when Strzok was married to another woman - led to Strzok being fired this week. Page resigned last month. Strozk was a long-time senior counterintelligence officer who was engaged first in the Hillary Clinton investigation and then seconded to the Robert Mueller probe. During the Clinton probe he texted Page 'f*** Trump'. She texted him: '[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!' He responded: 'No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it.' When the texts came to light, Strzok was removed from the Mueller probe. Page resigned from the FBI last month. Both were questioned by Congress - Strzok in public, Page in private - over their conduct. Strzok was involved in a bad-tempered exchange with Republican congressmen and a GIF of him appearing to sneer was widely circulated in pro-Trump circles. Strzok was then fired this week despite the FBI's internal disciplinary recommendation being that he keep his job. His 'friends' launched a GoFundMe which offered a hint of what he may say himself in the future: 'For the last year, Pete, his work, and his character have been the target of highly politicized attacks, including frequent slanderous statements from President Trump, who actively—and apparently successfully—pressured FBI officials to fire Pete.' It was close to its $500,00 target just after Sarah Huckabee Sanders made her announcement. BRUCE OHR, SENIOR EXECUTIVE AT DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Clearance under review Ohr is the only serving public servant on the list of those having their clearance reviewed. He was an associate deputy assistant attorney general and then head of an anti-drugs taskforce in the DoJ, from which he was demoted in February. He has made no public criticism of Trump or any public comment at all but he is at the heart of concerns over the golden showers dossier, and whether it was used to make part of the case for the Robert Mueller probe. He was the contact in the Department of Justice for Christopher Steele, the ex-British spy who wrote the notorious dossier. But his wife Nellie Ohr was at the time working for Fusion GPS, which commissioned Steele. Ohr oversaw the application to the FISA court for a warrant to monitor Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. A memo released by Devin Nunes, the Republican chair of the House Intelligence Committee, claims Ohr did not declare his wife's relationship. Subsequent leaked emails and texts say he kept in touch with Steele after Steele was terminated as an FBI source for leaking the dossier. Trump has tweeted: 'Bruce Ohr of the “Justice” Department (can you believe he is still there) is accused of helping disgraced Christopher Steele "find dirt on Trump." Ohr’s wife, Nelly, was in on the act big time - worked for Fusion GPS on Fake Dossier.' Ohr is widely expected to be forced out. Removing his clearance would make any legal action he took more difficult by stopping him accessing secrets which could be used if he litigated against the government. SUSAN RICE, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER Clearance under review Rice was Obama's first ambassador to the United Nations then from July 2013, his national security adviser. Since she left office she has been accused of being involved in the 'unmasking' and possibly also the leaking of the names of Michael Flynn - Trump's then national security adviser, now a felon - and Carter Page, a Trump campaign foreign affairs aide - over their conversations with Moscow. Rice denies that and H.R. McMaster, Trump's second national security adviser said she did nothing wrong - but she has been a public critic of Trump and his administration - and this week used the New York Times, which Trump reads every day to call him 'the autocrats' best friend'. SALLY YATES, FORMER ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL Clearance under review Yates spent just ten days as Trump's acting attorney general after being Obama's deputy attorney general from January 2015. Trump first told her she would stay in office and act up until Jeff Sessions was confirmed. But in late January 2017 she warned Trump that Mike Flynn, his first national security adviser had appeared not to be truthful about his dealings with Russia before the election and could be open to blackmail as a result. Days later she ordered her department not to defend Trump's travel ban on people which covered mostly majority-Muslim countries and was fired on immediately, on January 27. She has made limited public interventions but in July 2017 used a New York Times article to accuse Trump of being set on 'destroying the fundamental independence of the Justice Department'. She is in private practice and turned down an attempt to draft her as Democratic candidate for Georgia governor. MICHAEL HAYDN, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR Clearance under review Hayden was a career USAF officer who rose to four star general, holding intelligence posts under both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, including heading the NSA during and after 9/11. He was Bush's final CIA director and served briefly under Obama. But since the Trump administration he has used his CNN contributor role and his Twitter account to be a frequent - and witty - critic of the president. As well as more serious attacks, he sarcastically called Donald Trump Jr. 'that noted scholar' and has frequently used laughing emojis to characterize his reaction to Trump's actions.


Emboldened by the firing of ex-agent Peter Strzok, who is also on the list of officials whose clearances are being reviewed, the president put pressure on DOJ to fire Ohr, whose has been identified as the go-between between the Department of Justice and Fusion GPS for the Christopher Steele dossier.

The Justice Department transferred the career official in December following the revelation that Ohr met with the former British spy who put together the infamous dossier of salacious allegations about Trump.

Ohr's wife, Nellie, worked at the firm, Fusion GPS, that commissioned the dossier.

The Justice Department lawyer was not on the team of agents investigating election meddling and the Trump campaign's alleged ties to the Kremlin. He had known the former spy for years, however, and Ohr is a scholar on Russia and the Soviet Union.

The pressure came as Trump once again leaned on Sessions to end the Russia probe publicly this week. 'If we had a real Attorney General, this Witch Hunt would never have been started! Looking at the wrong people,' Trump tweeted.

After Trump gleefully tweeted that former FBI official Andrew McCabe was 'FIRED,' earlier this year, Brennan pushed back highly personal terms.

'When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America...America will triumph over you,' he wrote.

Vice President Joe Biden called the move to revoke Brennan's clearance as a result of the attacks on Trump 'unbecoming of a president.' He added: 'If you think it will silence John, then you just don't know the man.'

Hayden, appearing on CNN, said, 'The way that Sarah Huckabee Sanders rolled this out was almost in a tone to be threatening to the rest of us.'

'In other words, it looked to me like an attempt to make us change the things we are saying when we're asked questions on CNN or other networks,' he explained. 'And I frankly for those of us who appear routinely on air it's not going to have that effect.'

Hayden, who ran the NSA under President George W. Bush and Barack Obama, said: 'You've got to tell the truth, and if something's not right or not true, you have to point that out. Annd that implied threat isn't going to change what I think, say or write.'

Asked about the statement blaming Brennan for 'erratic' behavior, Hayden responded: 'I do try to make this not personal. But if our standard for having a clearance is avoiding erratic behavior, we've got a lot of other folks we need to look at,' he said, without identifying them.

CNN's Jake Tapper asked Hayden if he was referring to the president, however, and Hayden said that he was.