The Twitterverse exploded on Wednesday after Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that President Trump is revoking John Brennan‘s security clearance.

The press secretary made the announcement at the top of her briefing today — citing the former CIA director’s “erratic conduct and behavior” and political commentary that “calls into question his objectivity and credibility.” Sanders also said Trump is also thinking about taking clearances away from James Clapper, James Comey, Michael Hayden, and other intelligence figures who have become enemies of the administration.

Political observers instantly took notice, and the consensus is that Trump not only took this action to punish his critics, but its also a distraction from Omarosa Manigault Newman, the Paul Manafort trial, and other developments fueling the negative news cycle that dogged the White House over the last few days.

In an effort to distract us from

-Paul Manafort Trial

– px hikes due to tariffs

– Failed NoKorea Summit

– Child-Separation fallout

– tax cuts NOT trickling down & increasing wages

– trade war with China

– currency crisis in Turkey

– Omorosa tapes@realDonaldTrump did this ? https://t.co/Ia6fqrDpCj — Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) August 15, 2018

QUICK CHANGE THE SUBJECT FAM — Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) August 15, 2018

Shorter Sarah Huckabee Sanders: In order to change the subject from Trump being a racist and the existence of a N-word tape, John Brennan's security clearance has been revoked and others may lose theirs. #ShinyObjectWednesday — Jonathan Capehart (@CapehartJ) August 15, 2018

Paul Ryan said Trump was just trolling us by talking about revoking security clearances. He was wrong.https://t.co/SLqqDcpgqk — Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) August 15, 2018

If you wondered why the White House — which hasn't held regular press briefings in months — decided to hold a briefing for a second day in a row with 1 hour of notice, now you know! — Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) August 15, 2018

This will drive the news cycle until Omarosa releases her next recording https://t.co/Ipqw5UhAPD — Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) August 15, 2018

After days of being discombobulated by Omarosa's book, the White House turns and punches at national security critics. https://t.co/gCTLeMnKWh — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 15, 2018

As Trump retaliates against political critics by revoking or reviewing their security clearances, it is worth remembering that the president himself revealed highly classified information to Russians in an Oval Office meeting. — Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) August 15, 2018

Maybe I'm just being a cynic, but there's evidence that some White House decisions are being made only to influence the news cycle. — Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) August 15, 2018

This is purely for the Hannity/Pirro/Dobbs crowd https://t.co/KaOHDmWnrd — Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) August 15, 2018

[Image via screengrab]

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