Chuck Schumer took the opportunity to blast President Trump for revoking security clearances or threatening to revoke them, equating him to a dictator.
It took conservative actor James Woods all of one tweet to explain to him that the comparison is ridiculous.
From the Senate floor, Schumer declared: “The abuse of the powers of public office to silence critics, punish political enemies is exactly what goes on in dictatorships in banana republics.”
The congressman was addressing the situation with former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director John Brennan being stripped of his security clearance by the President.
Woods offered his take on such a claim, reminding Schumer of what really happens in a dictatorship.
No, Senator. What goes on in dictatorships is that people like you insult leaders and end up in lime pits. In a Republic like ours, you can yap away, as you are wont to do, and get to ride in private jets. So stop the hyperbole. https://t.co/d91u8wIwPi
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) August 20, 2018
Senator Rand Paul originally demanded Brennan have his security clearance revoked because he allegedly had been profiting off of it, divulging secrets in his role as an analyst in the media. President Trump finally agreed to do so last week.
Schumer didn’t quite see it as a means to clean up the mess created by Obama-era officials, instead referring to it as a “gratuitous act of political retribution taken out of spite and malice.”
“It was an attempt to silence critics of the president, something the president regularly tries to do usually unsuccessfully,” he said.
A dictator would revoke Schumer’s clearance, not some previous employee that no longer needs it.
— Gary Brown (@GaryBrown74) August 21, 2018
Schumer keeps using that word ‘dictator,’ but I don’t think he knows what it means.
Meanwhile, the President continues to clean house, threatening to remove other corrupt officials security clearances, including Bruce Ohr and James Clapper.
He also went after former Intelligence Official Phillip Mudd, following his unhinged rant in which the now-CNN panelist berated a black Trump supporter and ordered him off the set when he dared to confront him with facts.
Trump did, however, deny a report that he had considered revoking Barack Obama’s access to intelligence briefings.
Fake News, of which there is soooo much (this time the very tired New Yorker) falsely reported that I was going to take the extraordinary step of denying Intelligence Briefings to President Obama. Never discussed or thought of!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2018
The Political Insider is currently running a poll asking if you believe Obama’s security clearance should be revoked. What do you think?
