One of the executive orders Trump signed Monday revoked security clearances for 50 individuals who had been involved in the infamous letter claiming Hunter Biden's laptop was part of a Russian disinformation operation. The #4 name on that list was John Brennan, former CIA Director and an outspoken critic of Trump since his election in 2016. Tuesday, Brennan went on MSNBC to whine about having his security clearance pulled.
“He misrepresented the facts in that executive order because it said that we had suggested that the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation,” Brennan griped to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell.
“No, we said it was one of the hallmarks of Russian information operations, including the dumping of accurate information, which is what we said in that letter,” he added.
Brennan is telling the literal truth about what the letter said but he's lying about its impact. As Glenn Greenwald pointed out, the first report on the letter came from Politico and was headlined "Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say." That was the takeaway at the time.
While the letter’s signatories presented no new evidence, they said their national security experience had made them “deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case” and cited several elements of the story that suggested the Kremlin’s hand at work.
“If we are right,” they added, “this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this.”
The letter was specifically made to order after a phone call from Antony Blinken to Mike Morell.
In private sworn testimony, Morell told the House Judiciary Committee that Antony Blinken, now secretary of state, was the senior campaign official who reached out to him “on or before” Oct. 17, 2020, three days after The Post published an email from the laptop suggesting Hunter had introduced his Ukrainian business partner to his father, then-Vice President Biden.
Morell, identified as a potential CIA director under Biden, said he organized the letter to “help Vice President Biden … because I wanted him to win the election.”
Until Blinken’s call, Morell told House investigators, he had no intention of writing any statement exonerating Biden.
But he agreed that the conversation with Blinken “triggered … that intent” in him.
The letter became news 3 days before the presidential debate and, as intended, Biden used it during the debate.
Three days after the letter was made public, Biden used it as a talking point in the final 2020 presidential debate to rebut criticisms made by Trump.
"There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what this, he’s accusing me of, is a Russian plan," Biden said during the debate.
And of course, this same lie, promoted by the White House, is also why the story was censored by Facebook.
Indeed, this pre-election lie from CIA goons had only purpose: to protect Biden by deceiving key institutions to believe the materials were unreliable because they were "Russian disinformation."
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 23, 2025
That's how people like Jen Psaki promoted it, and it's why Big Tech censored it. pic.twitter.com/V3IZfZRzqQ
And of course the media eagerly reported this as true, for ratings of course but also sensing that it would help Biden out of a jam.
CNN repeatedly aired other US Security State liars -- such as Obama DNI James Clapper -- to say that the laptop was Russian disinformation. CNN's on-screen graphic said it. Look at the lies @ErinBurnett promoted that Brennan now claims they never made:https://t.co/k73CH2GF1E
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 23, 2025
From start to finish, this was a political dirty trick. It wasn't the Russians manipulating the 2020 election it was the Biden campaign and lying creeps like Brennan, Clapper, Morell, etc. who helped make it happen.
All of this also raises a question about why Brennan in particular still has a security clearance. Trump made a lot of news for pulling his clearance back in 2018:
President Trump revoked the security clearance of John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. director under President Barack Obama, on Wednesday in a striking act of retaliation against an outspoken critic. The president threatened to do the same to other former national security officials who have antagonized him.
Citing what he called Mr. Brennan’s “erratic” behavior and “increasingly frenzied commentary,” Mr. Trump dispatched Sarah Huckabee Sanders, his press secretary, to read a statement saying that Mr. Brennan had abused his access to the United States’ secrets “to make a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations.”
At the time, Brennan responded to this move by claiming it was additional proof Trump was about to be found to have colluded with Russia.
Mr. Trump’s claims of no collusion are, in a word, hogwash.
The only questions that remain are whether the collusion that took place constituted criminally liable conspiracy, whether obstruction of justice occurred to cover up any collusion or conspiracy, and how many members of “Trump Incorporated” attempted to defraud the government by laundering and concealing the movement of money into their pockets...
Mr. Trump clearly has become more desperate to protect himself and those close to him, which is why he made the politically motivated decision to revoke my security clearance in an attempt to scare into silence others who might dare to challenge him.
So Trump supposedly pulled his clearance and Brennan said his clearance had been pulled but somehow it never actually happened. On MSNBC this week, Brennan claimed he didn't really need it anyway, it was just for the benefit of the government.
"The only reason why I still had a security clearance, as I have for the past number of years since I left government service, was for the benefit of the government, so that if the CIA or another government agency wanted to call me in to discuss a classified matter, they could do that," Brennan said.
He added, "And so it was really for the government’s benefit. It was to facilitate those classified discussions with myself, as well as with former directors, as well as other former members of the intelligence community that had those clearances."
I think the government will get along fine without access to this lying, partisan hack.
Sheer lunacy fueled by pathological delusions of grandeur.
— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) November 16, 2022
Anyone still supporting this guy should seek immediate psychiatric counseling.
https://t.co/1SRn6cJAiC
Last word to MK Ham.
John Brennan has lied to Congress about spying on them, lied in the Hunter Biden letter, & is once again incredibly full of shit in his explanation of how he wasn’t lying in the Hunter letter. He’s lucky his only punishment is the security clearance. pic.twitter.com/lkt7KaHdzN
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) January 23, 2025
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