Monday President Trump acted as if he were just considering revoking security clearances from critics and possible witnesses against him, but today on Air Force One during a gaggle, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said plans are already underway. “… (H)e has begun the mechanism to remove security clearances from certain individuals. The names were listed yesterday.”
Here’s the Q and A as sent to PoliticusUSA from the White House press office:
Q: What has gone on in the last 24 hours on security clearances?
A: “I can’t get into specifics about the mechanism. What I can say is that the president finds it extremely inappropriate for somebody to go on television under the perception of legitimacy, integrity and level false and baseless claims against another person without any evidence whatsoever. He finds that to be somewhat troublesome and concerning and so he has begun the mechanism to remove security clearances from certain individuals. The names were listed yesterday. And when we have a further announcement on that, we’ll give it to you.”
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Q: One of the rationales given were that individuals were profiting off their government service. Another former admin. official, Sean Spicer, is out with a book today apparently profiting off his service. Will the WH consider stripping his clearance now as well as other former Trump admin. officials who might try to profit off their gov’t service?
A: “I’m not going to get ahead of anything — any announcement, as I just said, or the process we are looking at now. What this specifically has to do with security clearance, not government service as a whole.”
Q: Sean has a security clearance.
A: “That’s fine. When we have an announcement, we’ll let you know.”
Q: Speaker Ryan said he thought the president was just trolling in regards to the clearance issue. Is this serious?
A: “No. I mean, the president thinks it is extremely inappropriate for people to go out on television and level those claims with no evidence — to tease an audience with information that they claim to have but offer no backup. That’s problematic. He sees that as deeply concerning. And when we have an announcement on any front, we’ll let you know.”
Q: Is there a specific thing you’re referring to that was said that is false in your view?
A: “No.”
So, that’s a no they’re not removing security clearances from everyone who is profiting from them, because hello, the Trump family has to make money somehow.
But critics. Possible witnesses. Those are the people Trump is actually targeting. So his reasoning is, as usual, a lie.
Trump is going after anyone who can discredit or disagree with his lies with some integrity and facts, because that is what the security clearance provides- it provides the information the president has, for example on Russia attacking us in his favor, but upon which he is not acting.
Of course Speaker Ryan’s attempt to make this okay was also a lie, Trump is not “trolling” people. Trump IS going to do this. He has already started.
Trump wants you to forget about this but all he does centers on protecting his possible exposure for why he did this:
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin shake hands during a joint news conference after their meeting in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
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Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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