But the president has wide latitude on clearances, and courts are reluctant to overrule presidents on national security matters, Mr. Smith said, so there is probably little the former officials can do to block the move if the White House moves forward. Mr. Clapper declined to discuss the threat in detail but repeated comments he first made in an interview on CNN: “This is just a very, very petty thing to do. And that’s about all I’ll say about it.” Another former official being targeted, Michael V. Hayden, the former head of the C.I.A. and National Security Agency during the George W. Bush administration and a principal at the Chertoff Group who just wrote a book, said the removal of his security clearance would not affect “what I say or write.” He added on Twitter that he does not go to the White House for classified briefings. As unusual as the suggestion was, it reflected an equally remarkable dynamic that has taken hold in the Trump era: the fact that so many former senior intelligence officials are willing to regularly criticize the sitting president in public. Senior intelligence officials generally consider themselves, and the information they provide, nonpartisan. During past administrations, they have attempted to maintain an apolitical posture once they left the government, limiting their public criticism of successors. But Mr. Trump has routinely attacked intelligence agencies, portraying them as part of a so-called deep state, an unelected cabal seeking to steer United States policy and undercut him. Last year after a meeting with Mr. Putin, Mr. Trump called Mr. Brennan, Mr. Clapper and Mr. Comey “political hacks” as he cast doubt on Russia’s interference. After Mr. Trump again stood alongside President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Finland last week and sided with him over the intelligence community to cast doubt about the campaign meddling, the trio renewed their denunciations.<doc-sep>“When you have someone with their knowledge and experience,” he said of the former officials, “regardless of whether you agree with them or not, you typically want them to have access in the event that they need to be called back for something critical.”<doc-sep>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Monday threatened to strike back at critics of President Donald Trump’s contacts with Russia by revoking the security clearances of six former U.S. officials, drawing accusations that he was abusing his power and aiming to stifle dissent. Trump has targeted the former U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said, because they have “politicized and in some cases monetized their public service and security clearances, making baseless accusations of improper contact with Russia or being influenced by Russia.” Among them is John Brennan, who headed the CIA under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama and was one of the most vocal critics of Trump’s performance at his summit last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. After Trump gave credence to Putin’s denial of meddling in the 2016 U.S. election despite findings by the U.S. intelligence community, Brennan called the Republican president’s remarks “nothing short of treasonous.” Trump’s threat against Brennan and former U.S. officials James Comey, James Clapper, Michael Hayden, Susan Rice and Andrew McCabe represented an extraordinary politicization of the U.S. government’s security clearance process. Critics called it petty and unprecedented. “An enemies list is ugly, undemocratic and un-American. Is there no length Trump will not go to stifle opposition?” asked U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Sanders, who said Trump is “exploring the mechanisms” to remove the security clearances, made reference to Brennan’s treason comment in explaining the president’s threat. Asked if Trump was punishing the former officials because of their criticism, Sanders said, “No, I think you are creating your own story there.” Trump came under criticism after Helsinki, including from many fellow Republicans. One of the few who publicly sided with him last week, Senator Rand Paul, said he met with Trump on Monday and asked him to revoke Brennan’s security clearance. ‘A TERRIBLE PRECEDENT’ Many former U.S. officials retain security clearances after leaving government service because they continue to advise their former agencies or because it is a condition of employment as government contractors or consultants. Stripping the clearances also would represent a public rebuke of the officials and sever a connection with the intelligence community. Slideshow ( 3 images ) “Clearances are taken away for security violations, usually after an investigation,” former deputy CIA director John McLaughlin said on Twitter. “These people do not talk classified publicly. It would be political punishment infringing on first amendment rights. It’s something Putin would do.” The U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protects free speech. Some of targeted officials appeared to no longer have security clearances. Comey, who Trump fired as FBI director last year, has said he does not have one, his friend Benjamin Wittes said on Twitter. Comey has become a prominent critic, calling Trump “morally unfit to be president.” Clapper, who stepped down as director of national intelligence before Trump took office last year, called revoking security clearances “just a very, very petty thing to do.” “There is a formal process for doing this, but you know I guess legally the president has that prerogative,” Clapper said on CNN. “He can suspend or revoke clearances as he sees fit, and if he chooses to do it for political reasons, well I think that’s a terrible precedent. And it’s a very sad commentary. And it’s an abuse of the system.” Hayden, a former director of the CIA and National Security Agency and a retired four-star Air Force general, said he was unbowed. “I don’t go back for classified briefings,” he wrote on Twitter. “Won’t have any effect on what I say or write.”. Rice was former President Barack Obama’s national security adviser. McCabe, who as the former No. 2 FBI official was involved in the agency’s investigation of Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election, was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in March. Slideshow ( 3 images ) A spokeswoman for McCabe, Melissa Schwartz, wrote on Twitter his security clearance was deactivated when he was terminated, according to what they were told was FBI policy. Robert Mueller, the special counsel appointed by the Justice Department after Comey’s firing, is investigating Russia’s role in the 2016 election and whether Trump’s campaign collided with Moscow. Trump has called the probe a witch hunt and denied collusion. Both the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees all U.S. intelligence agencies, said they had no comment on Trump’s threat. Some Democrats criticized the proposal as a deflection tactic to change the conversation around what Trump may have agreed with Putin in their two-hour, one-on-one meeting. “This is absolute nonsense, and we shouldn’t fall for it,” said Rachel Cohen, spokeswoman for Senator Mark Warner, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono was one of the fiercest critics, writing on Twitter, “This is what totalitarianism looks like.”<doc-sep>
House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday suggested that President Donald Trump's threats to revoke the security clearances of several Obama administration-era former intelligence chiefs is "trolling". "I think he's trolling people, honestly," Ryan, R-Wis., said during a news conference at the Capitol Tuesday morning. “This is something that's in the purview of the executive branch," he explained, deferring the issue to the White House. "I think some of these people have already lost their clearances. Some people keep their clearances. That's something that the executive branch deals with. It's not really in our purview.” On Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed that Trump is weighing revoking the security clearances of John Brennan, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, James Comey, a former FBI director who Trump fired last year, Jim Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence, Michael Hayden, a former Director of the National Security Agency, Susan Rice, a National Security Advisor, and Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI. The move follows criticism of the president's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week in Helsinki, Finland, where Trump seemed to cast doubt on the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Brennan, in a tweet, said Trump's "press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of 'high crimes & misdemeanors.' It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???" After the president extended an invitation for Putin to visit the White House later this fall, Ryan slammed the door on an invitation to address Congress but acknowledged he is “comfortable” with presidents having one-on-one meetings with foreign leaders. “We will certainly not be giving him an invitation to do a joint session. That's something we reserve for allies,” Ryan said. “What I think matters is the message, and if the message is stop meddling in our country, stop violating our sovereignty, then I support that, but it's the message that counts.” “I think we always can be firmer on that message,” he added.