Rand Paul asks Trump to revoke ex-CIA director's security clearance

Thomas Novelly | Courier Journal

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul asked President Donald Trump on Monday to revoke a former CIA Director's security clearance after he criticized the commander-in-chief's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.

"Just got out of WH meeting with Donald Trump," Paul tweeted Monday. "I restated to him what I have said in public: John Brennan and others partisans should have their security clearances revoked."

Just got out of WH meeting with @realDonaldTrump. I restated to him what I have said in public: John Brennan and others partisans should have their security clearances revoked. — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 23, 2018

Last week, Trump publicly thanked the Kentucky Republican for supporting his summit with the Russian leader as a wave of backlash peppered Trump for undermining U.S. intelligence agencies and their investigation into Russian influence

"Thank you @RandPaul, you really get it! The President has gone through a year and a half of totally partisan investigations - what’s he supposed think?," Trump tweeted last week.

John Brennan, the former CIA director during the Barack Obama administration, fiercely criticized Trump for the meeting saying that it "exceeds the threshold of 'high crimes and misdemeanors.'"

On Monday morning, Paul claimed in a Tweet that Brennan was "monetizing his security clearance" and was making "millions of dollars divulging secrets to the mainstream media."

Paul has broken with Trump on numerous issues, including the nomination of CIA Director Gina Haspel, as well as last-minute spending bills.

But he's also been close with Trump on several occasions. Last October, Trump and Paul played golf together at Trump National Golf Course in Virginia.

Read this: 'The Russians are not our friends': Kentucky's reps on Trump-Putin summit

Several weeks later, Paul partnered with the president on an executive order that expanded access to cheap insurance over state lines, undercutting the Affordable Care Act.

Last week, Trump told the world he accepted Putin's notion that there was no Russian influence in the 2016 election, contradicting U.S. intelligence agencies and ignoring 12 indictments issued by special prosecutor Robert Mueller to Russian nationals accused of hacking into Democrats' computers.

Paul said in an interview last week with CBS that Mueller's investigation has left the president rightfully jaded about the U.S. intelligence community.

“The president has undergone an onslaught, a year, a year and a half, of a partisan investigation accusing him somehow of colluding with Russia,” Paul told CBS. “I think he’s sensitive to that.”

Thomas Novelly: tnovelly@courierjournal.com, 502-582-4465. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/tomn.