Brennan says he’s willing to go to court to prevent Trump from revoking additional clearances

Former CIA Director John Brennan said Sunday he’s willing to consider legal action against the Trump administration to block the president from revoking other officials’ security clearances.

Brennan said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that several lawyers have contacted him to discuss the possibility of filing a complaint against the White House after it revoked his security clearance last week.

“If my clearances and my reputation as I’m being pulled through the mud now, if that’s the price we’re going to pay to prevent Donald Trump from doing this against other people, to me it’s a small price to pay,” Brennan said. 

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“I’m going to do whatever I can personally to try to prevent these abuses in the future and if it means going to court, I will do that,” he added.

After announcing he was revoking Brennan’s clearance, President Trump said he is considering revoking the clearances of several other former intelligence officials. 

Nearly all of those officials have publicly criticized the president and his administration, prompting speculation that the move was retaliatory.

The White House justified revoking Brennan’s clearance by saying he has made unfounded allegations against the current administration, and claimed he has lied during congressional testimony in the past.

Skeptics have noted that Brennan is among the most outspoken critics of the Trump administration, frequently lashing out at the president on Twitter. 

More than a dozen of ex-intelligence officials have expressed support for Brennan in recent days and condemned Trump’s decision to revoke his clearance.

Brennan said on Sunday he’s heard from numerous former colleagues, but has yet to hear from the White House since they revoked his clearance.

“I was not notified before this happened and I have not heard from anybody since then,” he said. “To me that’s not surprising at all the way this White House and administration works.”