Story highlights Both Brennan and Clapper praised Robert Mueller

Clapper warned publicly about Russian interference in US affairs

(CNN) Former CIA Director John Brennan says government officials should refuse orders to fire special counsel Robert Mueller if they are told to by the White House.

"I think it's the obligation of some executive branch officials to refuse to carry that out. I would just hope that this is not going to be a partisan issue. That Republicans, Democrats are going to see that the future of this government is at stake and something needs to be done for the good of the future," Brennan told CNN's Wolf Blitzer at the Aspen Security Forum.

Brennan was appearing with former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and both men, who served in the Obama administration, told Blitzer they have total confidence in Mueller. "Absolutely. It was an inspired choice- they don't come any better, " Brennan said. He added that "If Mueller is fired, I hope our elected reps will stand up and say enough is enough."

Clapper again warned publicly about Russian interference in US affairs. He was asked about the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower that Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort had with a Russian lawyer and others.

"I'm an old school, Cold War warrior and all that -- so I have, there's truth in advertising, great suspicions about the Russians and what they do. A lot of this to me had kind of the standard textbook tradecraft long deployed by Russians," Clapper said. "It would have been a really good idea maybe to have vetted whoever they were meeting with."

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