President Trump said Friday his next target for stripping security clearance is high-ranking Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, and said it will probably happen quickly.
Mr. Trump also said he’s gotten a “tremendous response” to his decision to strip security clearance from Obama-era CIA Director John O. Brennan, and seemed emboldened by his hardball move.
“I think Bruce Ohr is a disgrace,” the president said of the career Justice Department official, who conservatives believe was a conduit for anti-Trump information to reach the FBI during and after the campaign, including the Steele dossier containing salacious and unproven allegations about Mr. Trump.
Mr. Ohr’s wife, Nellie Ohr, worked for Fusion GPS, the company paid by Democrats to dig up dirt on Mr. Trump, including hiring Christopher Steele, the former British spy who wrote the controversial dossier.
Unlike most of the names on Mr. Trump’s target list for revoking security clearances, Mr. Ohr is still in government.
The president’s decision to strip clearance from Mr. Brennan, who was a top aide to President Barack Obama in the White House before being sent to lead the CIA, has been deeply divisive.
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Democrats accused the president of trying to punish his critics.
But Republicans, including some who’ve been critical of Mr. Trump, said Mr. Brennan has crossed lines with his vicious criticism of the new president.
Mr. Trump dismissed claims he was silencing Mr. Brennan, and said his move was about the integrity of security clearances.
“If anything, I’m giving him a bigger voice,” the president said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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