The White House sent out a shockwave Monday afternoon, revealing it was not only considering the call of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to take away the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan, but also those of five other administration critics: former FBI Director James Comey, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director and retired Gen. Michael Hayden, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
"Not only is the president looking to take away Brennan's security clearance, he's also looking into the clearances of Comey, Clapper, Hayden, Rice, and McCabe," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in response to a question from Newsmax.
Sanders' response – which she read from a text in obvious preparation for a question on Paul – was a surprise. No one in the White House press corps had expected her to reveal the possibility of widespread seizure of security clearances for former top government officials.
Although the president's top spokeswoman did not spell out any details as to how the security clearances in question would be removed, Sanders did say "the president is exploring the mechanisms to remove their security clearances because they politicized and, in some cases, monetized their security clearances — making baseless accusations of improper contact with Russia, or being influenced by Russia, against the president is extremely inappropriate."
She added "the fact that people are making these baseless charges provides inappropriate legitimacy to accusastions with zero evidence."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.