by George Rasley
Senator Rand Paul met with President Donald Trump Monday and asked him to consider revoking former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance.
Our friend Sara Carter reports the Kentucky Senator later took to Twitter and wrote, “Just got out of WH meeting with @RealDonald Trump. I restated to him what I have said in public: John Brennan and others [sic] partisans should have their security clearances revoked.”
Prior to his meeting with the President, Carter reports Rand Paul questioned on Twitter if Brennan was “monetizing” his clearance by divulging secrets to the “mainstream media.” White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said during today’s press briefing that President Trump is seriously considering revoking Brennan’s privilege, along with other senior top intelligence officials from the Obama and Bush administration.
“Not only is the president looking to take away Brennan’s security clearance, he’s also looking into the clearances of (former FBI Director James) Comey, (former Director of National Intelligence James) Clapper, (former CIA Director Michael) Hayden, (former National Security Advisor Susan) Rice and (former FBI Deputy Director Andrew) McCabe,” Sanders told reporters.
Senator Paul is on to something with his charge that Brennan and others have “monetized” their clearances by using them to divulge secrets to the mainstream media, but that is not the only way in which Brennan and the Obama cabal behind the Russian collusion fantasy and other smears of President Trump have abused their access to classified information.
When you get right down to it, the entire Mueller witch hunt is based upon the Obama administration’s abuse of their control over secret intelligence information.
The entire circular logic behind the FISA warrants that led to the surveillance of Carter Page and other members of the Trump team was founded upon abuse of secret intelligence gathering and information, because the surveillance turned-up no new information.
The entire process was intended to put British spy Christopher Steele’s “dirty dossier” into the public eye and through that process justify spying on Trump and his associates.
As our friend Mark Tapscott reported for Lifezette, Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI officials were pushing what Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton called a “self-licking ice-cream cone” when they applied to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court for approval to spy on Carter Page.
“Self-licking ice cream cone. FISA docs cite Clinton-DNC Dossier, leak of Dossier to media, and leak of Dossier info through Dem Senator Harry Reid. Corrupt dishonesty to get court approval to spy on @RealDonaldTrump team,” Fitton tweeted Sunday.
The phrase a “self-licking ice cream cone” refers to “a self-perpetuating system that has no purpose other than to sustain itself,” Tapscott reminded us.
As Fitton noted on FOX News, the FBI’s initial application and three subsequent requests for renewal of the surveillance authority the FISA court granted against Carter Page — who was briefly a volunteer Trump foreign policy adviser during the 2016 campaign — relied almost exclusively on the unproven Steele dossier, which was continually recycled to justify more spying on Trump.
Which brings us back to the list of those whose security clearances Senator Paul requested that the President revoke.
None of the abuses thus far revealed in the investigation could have happened without the explicit and active participation of former FBI Director James Comey, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
They, with the active participation of others, created the “self-licking ice cream cone” of spurious Russian collusion claims to target President Trump for defeat or impeachment.
And it is no surprise that those who most egregiously abused their access to the sources, means and products of secret intelligence, Comey, Clapper, Rice, McCabe and Brennan in particular are now President Trump’s most high-profile assailants.
Now that they have been exposed, their strategy is to publicly attack Trump as loudly as possible, so when the finger points at them, they can say it was political retribution, which is exactly what is happening in the aftermath of Senator Paul’s meeting with the President.
As Rep. Louie Gohmert said, “The guilty dogs are barking pretty loud.”
We urge CHQ readers and friends to call the White House (202-456-1111) or use the online comments link here to tell the President Senator Paul was right, he should revoke the security clearances of former FBI Director James Comey, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and anyone else involved in the unmasking of Trump associates, the phony FISA warrant applications and the spying on the Trump team.
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George Rasley is editor of Richard Viguerie’s ConservativeHQ.com and is a veteran of over 300 political campaigns. A member of American MENSA, he served on the staff of Vice President Dan Quayle, as Director of Policy and Communication for Congressman Adam Putnam (FL-12) then Vice Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, and as spokesman for Rep. Mac Thornberry now-Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
