NATIONAL SECURITY/RUSSIA INVESTIGATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump is considering stripping a half-dozen former national security officials of their security clearances, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday [7-23-18], calling their public commentary about the ongoing Russia probe inappropriate. The list of former officials under consideration includes former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former FBI Director James Comey, former national security adviser Susan Rice, former deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe and former National Security Agency Director Michael Hayden, according to Sanders…The announcement came after Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, tweeted that he planned to speak with Trump about removing Brennan’s security clearance. Brennan declared last week that Trump’s performance following a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki was ‘nothing short of treasonous.’ A decision to strip a former official of a security clearance would prove a striking use of presidential power. Even Michael Flynn, Trump’s onetime national security adviser who was fired during the Obama administration, maintained his clearance when he was acting as a campaign surrogate for Trump, often leading ‘lock her up’ chants at political rallies.”
–Kevin Liptak, “Trump, citing politics, looking to revoke security clearances,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, July 23, 2018 4:02 pm