Trump made clear that his decision to review and revoke security clearances has everything to do with the Russia investigation

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Trump made clear that his decision to review and revoke security clearances has everything to do with the Russia investigation

Donald Trump

REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Donald Trump.

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  • President Donald Trump said he was motivated to revoke former CIA director John Brennan's security clearance in part because of the ongoing Russia investigation.
  • In its announcement about Brennan's security clearance earlier on Wednesday, the White House claimed it was Brennan's "erratic conduct and behavior" and "frenzied commentary" that prompted the action.
  • In a Wall Street Journal interview published Wednesday night, Trump said it was because of the Russia investigation. "I call it the rigged witch hunt, [it] is a sham. And these people led it," the president said, adding that Brennan's security clearance revocation was "something that had to be done."

President Donald Trump made clear he was motivated to revoke former CIA director John Brennan's security clearance in part because of the ongoing Russia investigation, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday night.

"I call it the rigged witch hunt, [it] was a sham. And these people led it," Trump told The Journal, referring to Brennan and a handful of other US intelligence veterans who played a role in the early aughts of the Russia probe - and whose security clearances the White House said it was reviewing.

Trump said, because of the Russia investigation, revoking Brennan's security clearance was "something that had to be done."

The president's remarks seemed to contradict the announcement the White House made hours earlier, when press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Brennan's frequent criticism of Trump - which she described as "erratic conduct and behavior" and "frenzied commentary" - is what prompted the revocation. Sanders also cited unrelated transgressions involving Brennan, stretching back to 2014.

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The action prompted bipartisan rebukes and worries that Trump was willfully infringing on his critics' First Amendment rights.

But Trump's assertion to The Wall Street Journal's Peter Nicholas and Michael C. Bender on Wednesday night resembles a similar admission Trump made to NBC News' Lester Holt in May 2017, days after he fired FBI director James Comey.

"In fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said 'you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story - it's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should've won,'" Trump said at the time, and many more times since that interview.

Contrary to Trump's remarks during that NBC News interview, documents from the Department of Justice submitted with Comey's dismissal letter only cited his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation as the reason for his firing, and said nothing of the Russia probe.

While Trump has never been shy about his disdain for the Russia matter, his escalating attacks on that investigation have triggered worries that he may try to shut it down completely.

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