NATION
Saturday, August 18, 2018
East Oregonian
Trump warns he’ll revoke clearance
of more Justice Department officials
By JILL COLVIN
and CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Pres-
ident Donald Trump said
Friday that he suspects he’ll
“very quickly” revoke the
security clearance for a Jus-
tice Department official
whose wife worked for the
firm involved in producing
a dossier on Trump’s ties to
Russia.
Signaling that his efforts
to target clearances over his
frustration with the Russia
investigation were not over,
Trump tweeted that it was a
“disgrace” for Bruce Ohr to
be in the Justice Department.
His comments came two
days after he yanked the
security clearance of former
CIA Director John Brennan,
saying he had to do “some-
thing” about the “rigged”
federal probe of Russian
election interference. Critics
have cast it as an act of polit-
ical vengeance.
Ohr has come under
Republican scrutiny for his
contacts to Glenn Simpson,
co-founder of Fusion GPS.
The opposition research
firm hired former British spy
Christopher Steele during
the 2016 presidential cam-
paign to compile the dos-
sier on Trump and his Rus-
sia ties.
Ohr’s
wife,
Nellie,
worked for Fusion GPS
during the campaign —
something
Trump
has
tweeted about to high-
light his assertions of polit-
ical bias behind the Russia
investigation.
Former U.S. security
officials on Thursday issued
scathing rebukes to Trump
for moving against Bren-
nan. Trump’s admission that
he acted out of frustration
with the Russia probe under-
scored his willingness to use
his executive power to fight
back against an investiga-
AP Photo/Files
These file photos, top row from left are former CIA Director Michael Hayden, former
FBI Director James Comey, former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe and former
national security adviser Susan Rice. Bottom row from left are former FBI Deputy
Assistant Director Peter Strzok, former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, former Deputy Attor-
ney General Sally Yates and former National Intelligence Director James Clapper.
President Donald Trump acted Aug. 15, 2018, on a threat and revoked the security
clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan, citing a constitutional responsibility
to protect classified information. Trump says he is reviewing security clearances for
nine other individuals, including the eight pictured.
tion he sees as a threat to his
presidency. Legal experts
said the dispute may add to
the evidence being reviewed
by special counsel Robert
Mueller.
In an opinion piece in
The New York Times, Bren-
nan said Trump’s decision,
announced Wednesday, to
deny him access to classi-
fied information was a des-
perate attempt to end Muel-
ler’s investigation. Brennan,
who served under Presi-
dent Barack Obama and
has become a vocal Trump
critic, called Trump’s claims
that he did not collude with
Russia “hogwash.”
The
only
question
remaining is whether the
collusion amounts to a
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“constituted criminally lia-
ble conspiracy,” Brennan
wrote.
Later Thursday, the
retired Navy admiral who
oversaw the raid that killed
Osama bin Laden called
Trump’s moves “McCar-
thy-era tactics.” Writing in
The Washington Post, Wil-
liam H. McRaven said he
would “consider it an honor”
if Trump would revoke his
clearance, as well.
“Through your actions,
you have embarrassed us
in the eyes of our chil-
dren, humiliated us on the
world stage and, worst of
all, divided us as a nation,”
McRaven wrote.
That was followed late
Thursday by a joint let-
377
$
ter from 15 former senior
intelligence officials calling
Trump’s action “ill-consid-
ered and unprecedented.”
They said it “has nothing
to do with who should and
should not hold security
clearances — and every-
thing to do with an attempt
to stifle free speech.”
The signees included
seven former CIA directors,
six former CIA deputy direc-
tors and two former national
intelligence directors, James
Clapper and retired Navy
Adm. Denny Blair. Clap-
per and former CIA Direc-
tor Michael Hayden have
appeared on a White House
list of people who may also
have their security clear-
ances revoked.
Trump blames D.C. as
military parade plans
unravel over costs
WASHINGTON (AP)
— The cancellation of
President Donald Trump’s
Veterans Day parade came
swiftly when senior White
House and Pentagon lead-
ers saw the estimated $92
million price tag play out
in public, setting off a cha-
otic volley of tweets and
accusations between the
president and the mayor of
the nation’s capital.
The drama that unfolded
Thursday and Friday also
highlighted, not for the
first time, a disconnect
between the Pentagon and
the White House when it
comes to turning some of
Trump’s more mercurial
ideas into reality.
While Defense Secre-
tary Jim Mattis dismissed
the price estimate for the
parade as fiction — lik-
ening the report of it as
the work of someone who
had been smoking pot —
Trump wasn’t denying the
projected costs. He was
lashing out at Washing-
ton, D.C., politicians he
claimed were to blame for
the sky-high price.
“When asked to give
us a price for holding a
great celebratory mili-
tary parade, they wanted
a number so ridiculously
high that I cancelled it.
Never let someone hold
you up!” Trump tweeted.
He held out hope of
holding the parade next
year instead, and said
this year he would travel
to Paris for events mark-
ing the centennial of the
end of fighting in World
War I, which falls on Vet-
erans Day, Nov. 11. “Now
we can buy some more jet
fighters!” he added.
Despite Trump blaming
municipal authorities for
the high estimate, the bulk
of the cost was the $50
million Pentagon portion
that would cover military
aircraft, equipment, per-
sonnel and other support.
The remaining $42 million
would cover costs borne
by the city and other agen-
cies and largely involved
security costs.
The Republican presi-
dent’s finger-pointing set
off a social media spat with
D.C.’s Democratic Mayor
Muriel Bowser. She shot
back on Twitter Friday
that she was the one who
“finally got thru to the real-
ity star in the White House
with the realities ($21.6M)
of parades/events/demon-
strations in Trump Amer-
ica (sad).”
District of Colum-
bia officials called the
price-gouging charge by
Trump “patently false.” A
city official said the $21.6
million estimate of the costs
the city would incur was
their “best stab at it,” since
they did not know what the
exact route would be or
how long it would last. The
official, who wasn’t autho-
rized to discuss the matter
publicly and spoke on con-
dition of anonymity, said
there had been little inter-
action with the Pentagon
and few details provided.
Trump decided he
wanted a military parade
in Washington after he
attended France’s Bastille
Day celebration in the cen-
ter of Paris last year. Sev-
eral months later Trump
praised the French parade,
saying, “We’re going to
have to try and top it.”
It was a demand that
drew criticism not just
from Trump’s politi-
cal opponents but some
Republicans too. As the
Pentagon began planning
for the U.S. version, the
cost became a politically
charged issue — as did
the prospect of streets in
the nation’s capital being
churned up by tank treads.
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