BLUF:[Washington Examiner] "Director Brennan's recent statements purport to know as fact that the Trump campaign colluded with a foreign power," Burr said in a statement Thursday afternoon. "If Director Brennan's statement is based on intelligence he received while still leading the CIA, why didn't he include it in the Intelligence Community Assessment released in 2017? If his statement is based on intelligence he has seen since leaving office, it constitutes an intelligence breach."
Burr was referring to the January 2017 intelligence community assessment which determined Russia was behind an effort to interfere in the 2016 election which got Trump elected to White House. The North Carolina Republican went on to say Brennan using the media as an outlet to lash out at Trump may not have been a wise choice.
"If he has some other personal knowledge of or evidence of collusion it should be disclosed to the Special Counsel, not the New York Times," Burr continued, alluding to special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the federal Russia investigation. "If, however, Director Brennan's statement is purely political and based on conjecture, the president has full authority to revoke his security clearance as head of the Executive Branch."
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced the move to revoke Brennan's security clearance on Wednesday and read a statement from Trump, citing the "risks posed by his erratic conduct and behavior" as the impetus for the move.
Related: Wash Examiner - The pathetic omission in John Brennan's New York Times op-ed on Russia