National security adviser John Bolton lashed out at ex-CIA chief John Brennan and other Obama-era intelligence community officials for “politicizing intelligence” — but denied Brennan’s security clearance revocation was political.
In an interview on ABC News’ “This Week,” aired Sunday, Bolton suggested Brennan could have used classified information improperly by calling President Donald Trump’s denial of collusion with Russia in the 2016 election “hogwash.”
“I think a number of people have commented that he couldn't be in the position he's in of criticizing President Trump and his so-called collusion with Russia unless he did use classified information,” he said, adding he didn’t know “the specifics.”
“What I do know was when he was director of CIA, I was very troubled by his conduct, by statements he made in public and by what I thought was his politicization of the intelligence community,” he said.
He said the politicization went further than Bolton.
“It was my view at the time that he and others in the Obama administration were politicizing intelligence. I think that's a very dangerous thing to do,” he said. “And I think especially for senior intelligence officials, career intelligence officials who come out of the government to keep that wall of separation between intelligence policy, and I don't think Brennan has followed that…”
He also batted back criticism that Trump yanked Brennan’s security clearance because of his vocal criticism of the president.
“I don't think political disagreement alone is sufficient” to revoke security clearance, he said. “But I think in the case, especially of a senior intelligence community official, who violates the separation between intelligence and policy, I think those would constitute grounds.”
“For me, the issue is whether he abused information that he obtained while he was director of CIA, or they have obtained perhaps erroneously or incorrectly after he left,” he said.
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