Sen. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tommy-tuberville" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tommy Tuberville</a> (R-AL) said he reported former <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cia">CIA</a> Director <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/michael-hayden">Michael Hayden</a> to the Capitol Police in response to a post on social media suggesting that the college football coach-turned-lawmaker should no longer be a member of the human race.
The announcement on Tuesday marks an escalation over Tuberville&#8217;s months-long &#8220;hold&#8221; on the Democrat-led Senate&#8217;s ability to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/schumer-moves-to-confirm-top-military-nominees-after-tuberville-calls-audible">quickly approve U.S. military nominees</a> in protest against a Pentagon <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/abortion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">abortion</a> policy.
Hayden, a retired four-star general who in addition to serving as head of the CIA also worked as chief of the NSA during his career, stirred controversy when he responded to a post on X on Monday that asked, &#8220;Should Tommy Tuberville be removed from his committee? Yes or No?&#8221; His account <a href="https://twitter.com/GenMhayden/status/1711554729518460955?s=20">replied</a>, &#8220;How about the human race?&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
How about the human race? <a href="https://t.co/UCGCfF1lA3">https://t.co/UCGCfF1lA3</a>
&mdash; Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) <a href="https://twitter.com/GenMhayden/status/1711554729518460955?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2023</a></blockquote>
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The comment prompted a torrent of criticism, including from other GOP lawmakers who regarded what Hayden said as a <a href="https://twitter.com/SenMikeLee/status/1711743834067968453">threat</a> and even the <a href="https://twitter.com/RepDanBishop/status/1711759580697374767">suggestion of</a> an assassination attempt.
“This morning my office was made aware of a statement made by General Michael Hayden calling for a politically motivated assassination,&#8221; Tuberville said in a statement. &#8220;This statement is disgusting and it is repugnant to everything we believe in as Americans. Given General Hayden’s long career in Washington, he must have known that, by making such a statement, he was committing a serious crime.&#8221;
Tuberville added, &#8220;His own efforts today to reinterpret what he said are only a tacit admission of guilt. If we still have a nonpolitical justice system in this country, then General Hayden will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. My office has reported this incident to the Capitol Police and I expect that they will once again do an excellent job protecting members of Congress and bringing criminals to justice.&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
My statement on General Hayden. <a href="https://t.co/KQ0sLz6gTQ">pic.twitter.com/KQ0sLz6gTQ</a>
&mdash; Coach Tommy Tuberville (@SenTuberville) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenTuberville/status/1711837035411931628?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Hayden, who <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/cia-michael-hayden-executing-nuclear-secrets-leakers-trump-raid">similarly made headlines last year</a> when he appeared to endorse the execution of people who leak national security secrets amid the classified documents investigation into former President Donald Trump, responded to the latest firestorm in a follow-up post to X on Tuesday morning.
&#8220;I was surprised to wake up this morning and discover that many MAGAnuts had lost their minds over my suggestion that &#8216;Coach&#8217; Tuberville not be considered a member of the human race. I stand by that view. I’m wishing you all a nice day even the intransigent Tommy Tuberville,&#8221; Hayden <a href="https://twitter.com/GenMhayden/status/1711723043360256203">said</a>.
The Daily Wire reached out to the Capitol Police seeking comment.
Tuberville&#8217;s statement assailed what he said was the &#8220;deafening silence&#8221; from Democrats on Hayden, and noted that the former CIA director is &#8220;just the latest in a long line of Washington Leftists who have engaged in reckless rhetoric against me over the past few months. This must stop and it must stop now.&#8221;

Senator Tommy Tuberville

Senator Reports Former CIA Director To Capitol Police

Congress

Michael Hayden

Tommy Tuberville

U.S.

U.S. Senate

Former CIA Director Michael Hayden suggested that he would be fine with an effort to &#8220;remove&#8221; Senator <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tommy-tuberville" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tommy Tuberville</a> (R-AL) from &#8220;the human race&#8221; — presumably because he continues to hold up the unanimous consent confirmations of military promotions.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/schumer-moves-to-confirm-top-military-nominees-after-tuberville-calls-audible" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tuberville</a> has opposed unanimous consent for mass confirmations — forcing them to be taken one at a time if they are considered at all — over the Pentagon&#8217;s policy providing travel allowances for service members seeking abortions. And on Monday, Nathalie Jacoby asked whether Tuberville should &#8220;be removed from his committee.&#8221;
https://twitter.com/nathaliejacoby1/status/1711524222688760017
&#8220;How about the humane race?&#8221; Hayden responded.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
How about the human race? <a href="https://t.co/UCGCfF1lA3">https://t.co/UCGCfF1lA3</a>
&mdash; Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) <a href="https://twitter.com/GenMhayden/status/1711554729518460955?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Critics pointed out that Hayden&#8217;s words made it sound like he was fine with someone removing Tuberville from the human race.
&#8220;Former CIA Director Michael Hayden calls for the assassination of Sen. Tuberville because the senator is performing desperately needed oversight of the U.S. Military. Hayden, a renowned civil liberties violator, promoted the Biden laptop coverup and the Russia collusion scam,&#8221; The Federalist&#8217;s Mollie Hemingway said in a post on X.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden calls for the assassination of Sen. Tuberville because the senator is performing desperately needed oversight of the U.S. Military. Hayden, a renowned civil liberties violator, promoted the Biden laptop coverup and the Russia collusion scam. <a href="https://t.co/MpwOSxJkPj">pic.twitter.com/MpwOSxJkPj</a>
&mdash; Mollie (@MZHemingway) <a href="https://twitter.com/MZHemingway/status/1711566097470681415?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald agreed, saying, &#8220;There&#8217;s always a lot of talk about &#8216;inciting violence&#8217; and many argue speech that does so should be banned. I can&#8217;t recall a tweet that more explicitly and obviously advocates murder than this one from Bush/Cheney CIA and NSA Director, and current CNN contributor, @GenMHayden.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
There&#39;s always a lot of talk about &quot;inciting violence&quot; and many argue speech that does so should be banned. 
I can&#39;t recall a tweet that more explicitly and obviously advocates murder than this one from Bush/Cheney CIA and NSA Director, and current CNN contributor, <a href="https://twitter.com/GenMhayden?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GenMHayden</a>: <a href="https://t.co/GQt3WR8tgn">pic.twitter.com/GQt3WR8tgn</a>
&mdash; Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) <a href="https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1711770240084848827?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;The CIA usually isn’t supposed to admit in public that they want to assassinate elected officials, General,&#8221; Damien Toell <a href="https://twitter.com/damintoell/status/1711601007803703657" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>.
Hayden responded on Tuesday, claiming that he hadn&#8217;t meant someone should remove Tuberville from the human race, only that people should not consider him a member of it.
&#8220;I was surprised to wake up this morning and discover that many MAGAnuts had lost their minds over my suggestion that &#8216;Coach&#8217; Tuberville not be considered a member of the human race. I stand by that view. I’m wishing you all a nice day even the intransigent Tommy Tuberville,&#8221; he said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I was surprised to wake up this morning and discover that many MAGAnuts had lost their minds over my suggestion that “Coach” Tuberville not be considered a member of the human race. I stand by that view. I’m wishing you all a nice day even the intransigent Tommy Tuberville.
&mdash; Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) <a href="https://twitter.com/GenMhayden/status/1711723043360256203?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;The word used was &#8216;removed,&#8217; General. Not &#8216;considered,'&#8221; Jay Caruso pointed out.
https://twitter.com/JayCaruso/status/1711764415593234881

Nobel Week Dialogue on the Future of Truth

Former CIA Director Suggests He’s Fine With Removing Sitting Senator From ‘The Human Race’

Former CIA Director Suggests He's Fine With Removing Sitting Senator From 'The Human Race'

Abortion

General

Pentagon

A new report indicates that foreign leaders are wary to trust the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/united-states" target="_blank" rel="noopener">United States</a>&#8216; security apparatus due to a pattern of faulty information subject to &#8220;political manipulation.&#8221; A recent tweet from a former top member of the intelligence community implying that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/republican-party">Republicans</a> are worse than Islamic extremists and other radicals gives fodder to such beliefs.
According to the Washington Post, our nation&#8217;s allies <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/interactive/2022/ukraine-road-to-war/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubted</a> U.S. intelligence that Russia would invade Ukraine due to several previous failings like &#8220;emphatic U.S. claims about intelligence on Iraq.&#8221; Others felt that President Joe Biden and the Pentagon &#8220;had vastly overestimated the resilience of Afghanistan’s government as the U.S. military was withdrawing&#8221; only to have the government collapse within days as the Taliban took over with ease.
“American intelligence is not considered to be a naturally reliable source,” François Heisbourg, a security expert and veteran advisor to French officials told The Post. “It was considered to be prone to political manipulation.”
Heisbourg&#8217;s concerns seemed to manifest themselves this week due to the former head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Security Administration (NSA), General Michael Hayden.
Hayden wants you to believe that the current Republican Party — which <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx">represents</a> roughly 28% of registered voters — is the most &#8220;nihilistic, dangerous &amp; contemptible&#8221; force that he has ever seen. He agreed with a journalist who said as much Wednesday evening.
Friday evening, Financial Times Associate Editor Edward Luce tweeted, &#8220;I’ve covered extremism and violent ideologies around the world over my career. Have never come across a political force more nihilistic, dangerous &amp; contemptible than today’s Republicans. Nothing close.&#8221;
&#8220;I agree,&#8221; Hayden <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-intelligence-director-bashes-republicans-agrees-they-are-the-most-dangerous-political-force-in-the-world" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a>.
&#8220;And I was the CIA Director,&#8221; he added as if to show his bona fides for making such a claim.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I agree. And I was the CIA Director <a href="https://t.co/LRAHDDyy4n">https://t.co/LRAHDDyy4n</a>
&mdash; Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) <a href="https://twitter.com/GenMhayden/status/1560027626626072577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2022</a></blockquote>
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In reaction to the general&#8217;s claim, Green Beret and Virginia state delegate Nick Freitas retorted, &#8220;Really General? Worse than the Taliban? Worse than Al Qaeda?&#8221;
&#8220;Please explain,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Specifically to those of us who were sent all over the world to fight these groups based on intelligence your agency provided. You owe us at least that much you arrogant ass.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Really General? Worse than the Taliban? Worse than Al Qaeda? Please explain. Specifically to those of us who were sent all over the world to fight these groups based on intelligence your agency provided. You owe us at least that much you arrogant ass. <a href="https://t.co/hGQ2rR5fHs">https://t.co/hGQ2rR5fHs</a>
&mdash; Nick Freitas (@NickJFreitas) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickJFreitas/status/1560284052372033536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 18, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Journalist Matt Taibbi had a similar response. &#8220;So &#8216;today’s Republicans&#8217; are more dangerous than ISIS, Al-Qaeda, etc?&#8221;
&#8220;Given that you used drones to assassinate members of the latter groups, do you think that’s indicated here?&#8221; he pondered.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
So “today’s Republicans” are more dangerous than ISIS, Al-Qaeda, etc? Given that you used drones to assassinate members of the latter groups, do you think that’s indicated here? <a href="https://t.co/3BTL1sDFJ0">https://t.co/3BTL1sDFJ0</a>
&mdash; Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) <a href="https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1560275738590191616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 18, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
It is a good question, but so far Hayden has not answered.
He does not need to, because even if he does not support droning Americans we know that he supports using the intelligence community to interfere with American elections. He personally has used his résumé to help cast doubt on accurate news stories that harmed Democrats and Republican opponents.
Hayden was one of the 51 members of the vaunted intelligence community who <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/03/18/intelligence-experts-refuse-to-apologize-for-smearing-hunter-biden-story/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> a letter saying that the New York Post&#8217;s 2020 story about Hunter Biden&#8217;s infamous laptop — which has since been verified — was Russian disinformation. Americans, as well as social media sites, trusted that folks like Hayden were making such claims out of interest in protecting democracy.
Now, it seems obvious that the folks who signed the letter were merely interested in protecting Democrats and thwarting President Donald Trump&#8217;s re-election. No apologies have been issued from the intelligence community for their bogus letter about the laptop.
It is stories like that — alongside the Russia hoax and more — which could explain why recent polling <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mid-term-exam-all-the-latest-on-the-2022-elections-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indicates</a> that a majority of both Republicans and Independents &#8220;believe Trump’s political enemies are behind the FBI raid on President Trump’s private home.&#8221;
The FBI, a part of the same community as Hayden, also appears to be &#8220;prone to political manipulation&#8221; as the French security expert Heisbourg said of America&#8217;s foreign intelligence team.
Of course, America&#8217;s information was correct about Russia&#8217;s invasion (which begs the question as to why Biden didn&#8217;t prepare for the &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-was-warned-of-russias-war-in-october-yet-he-didnt-prepare-for-the-putin-price-hike">Putin Price Hike</a>&#8220;).
The lesson here is not to say that our security experts never get it right, but comments like Hayden&#8217;s certainly fail to help sow confidence domestically or abroad.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

General Michael Hayden

Really? Former CIA Director Agrees GOP Is Most ‘Dangerous’ Group Around — Which Explains A Lot

Really? Former CIA Director Says He Agrees GOP Is Most 'Dangerous' Group Around — Which Explains A Lot

Former <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cia">CIA</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/national-security-agency-nsa">NSA</a> director <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/michael-hayden">Michael Hayden</a> bashed Republicans on Wednesday, saying that he agreed with the claim that there was no more dangerous “political force” than Republicans. 
Hayden made the comments in response to a <a href="https://twitter.com/EdwardGLuce/status/1557984573354565633">tweet</a> from Financial Times editor and writer Edward Luce. Luce tweeted, “I’ve covered extremism and violent ideologies around the world over my career. Have never come across a political force more nihilistic, dangerous &amp; contemptible than today’s Republicans. Nothing close.”
The former intelligence director shared the statement, <a href="https://twitter.com/GenMhayden/status/1560027626626072577">saying</a>, “I agree. And I was the CIA director.”
Hayden, who was appointed to be CIA director by former President George W. Bush, led the agency from 2006 to 2009. Previously, he was first appointed by former President Bill Clinton to be director of the NSA, a role he held from 1999 to 2005.
The Air Force general began his career during the Cold War when the threat of nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the U.S. was a very real possibility and has witnessed the rise of an increasingly powerful China in the last several decades. 
During his tenure leading the two intelligence giants, he would have been heavily involved with the U.S. response to Islamic terrorism as he was heading up the NSA during the September 11, 2001 attacks. 
He endorsed Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election. 
Last year, he even <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-cia-director-good-idea-to-send-maga-wearing-unvaxxed-americans-to-afghanistan">said</a> that it was a “good idea” to send &#8220;MAGA wearing unvaxxed&#8221; Americans to Afghanistan.
Hayden was widely criticized by conservatives for his statement seemingly indicating that he believes Republicans are more of a threat than ISIS or the Chinese Communist Party. 
“If you wondered whether there is a Deep State,” <a href="https://twitter.com/SebGorka/status/1560091295456133123">said</a> former Trump administration official Sebastian Gorka. “Here’s Obama’s DCI calling 74 million Americans worse tha[n] the [Taliban], ISIS, and Al Qaeda.”
Washington Free Beacon investigative reporter Chuck Ross <a href="https://twitter.com/ChuckRossDC/status/1560071556621111298">pointed</a> out that Hayden was heading up the CIA when the U.S. was attempting to hunt down 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. 
Hayden’s comments come as the Biden administration, through the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, have ramped up operations and investigations into “domestic terrorism.” However, some have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/whistleblowers-accuse-fbi-of-padding-domestic-terrorism-stats-to-play-up-threat-report">accused</a> the feds of inflating concerns about domestic extremism. In July, the DOJ was accused by whistleblowers of &#8220;padding&#8221; its domestic terrorism statistics to make the threat seem more widespread.

Former Intelligence Director Bashes Republicans, Agrees They Are The Most Dangerous Political Force In The World

Former Intelligence Agrees Republicans Are The Most Dangerous Political Force In The World

National Security Agency (NSA)

On Sunday morning, former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden, who had already been widely criticized for retweeting a split image comparing former President Trump’s supporters to the Taliban, doubled down, replying “Good idea” to a suggestion that “MAGA wearing unvaxxed” Americans should be sent to Afghanistan.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Good idea <a href="https://t.co/pn6xcWTtc8">https://t.co/pn6xcWTtc8</a>
&mdash; Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) <a href="https://twitter.com/GenMhayden/status/1429436196149661696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 22, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“On Thursday, Hayden retweeted a split image. The top showed black-clad Islamic militants waving guns and flags from a line of cars with a caption reading: ‘Their Taliban.’ Beneath that was a line of pickup trucks hoisting American flags and ‘Trump 2020; flags with the caption: ‘Our Taliban,’” <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/ex-cia-director-compares-trump-supporters-to-taliban">Fox News</a> reported.
In June 2018, Hayden compared the Trump administration&#8217;s immigration policies to Nazi concentration camps that were used to murder millions of Jews during World War II.
&#8220;Other governments have separated mothers and children,&#8221; Hayden tweeted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Other governments have separated mothers and children <a href="https://t.co/tvlBkGjT0h">pic.twitter.com/tvlBkGjT0h</a>
&mdash; Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) <a href="https://twitter.com/GenMhayden/status/1008035777455026178?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Referring to Hayden along with MSNBC contributor Donny Deutsch — who said that every American who votes for President Donald Trump was a Nazi, stating, &#8220;If you vote for Trump, then you, the voter — you, not Donald Trump — are standing at the border like Nazis going, &#8216;You here. You here.’”— Dennis Prager <a href="https://editorial.com/news/prager-donny-deutsch-michael-hayden-and-moral-dennis-prager/">wrote</a>:
<blockquote>Deutsch, Hayden and the myriad other fools who compare Trump to Hitler and the Nazis have utterly trivialized the Holocaust. As everyone who isn&#8217;t on the left knows, there is nothing morally analogous between the way the last three presidential administrations dealt with some children of immigrants who are in the country illegally and what the Nazis did to Jewish children.
American children are routinely separated from their parent when that parent is arrested, and if the arrestee is a single parent, the child is taken into government custody until other arrangements can be made. With regard to immigrants who are in the country illegally, the only way to avoid separation is to place the children in detention along with their arrested parent(s). But this was expressly forbidden by the most left-wing court in America — the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals — if detention lasts longer than 20 days, as it nearly always does when either a not-guilty plea or an asylum claim is made.
Moreover, as awful as separation from a parent is, these children were not treated like animals in cages but transferred to the care of relatives or foster homes, or housed with other detained children where they were provided with room, board, education, sports facilities, etc.</blockquote>
In August 2018, after former President Trump stripped ex-Central Intelligence Agency chief John Brennan of his security clearance, Hayden said he would be honored to have his revoked as well.
CNN’s Jake Tapper said:
<blockquote>General Hayden, I want to ask you.Retired Admiral William McRaven, who oversaw the raid that &#8212; in which bin Laden was killed, he wrote this in &#8220;The Washington Post&#8221; this week. This also stunning: &#8220;I would consider it an honor&#8221; &#8212; he&#8217;s writing to President Trump &#8212; &#8220;if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who had spoken up against your presidency. Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage, and, worst of all, divided us as a nation.&#8221;
Would you be similarly honored to have President Trump revoke your security clearance?</blockquote>
Hayden responded, “Well, to be included in that group, sure. And, frankly, if his not revoking my clearance gave the impression that I have somehow moved my commentary in a direction more acceptable to the White House, I would find that very disappointing and, frankly, unacceptable.”

Former CIA Director: ‘Good Idea’ To Send ‘MAGA Wearing Unvaxxed’ Americans To Afghanistan

Afghanistan

MAGA

Unvaccinated

Let&#8217;s say a company like Apple fired an employee. But, for some reason, Apple lets the now ex-employee keep his access to all internal workings of the company &#8212; plans for new products, proprietary numbers on sales, everything.
That&#8217;d be insane, right? Should that employee happen to be disgruntled, there&#8217;s no telling what he could do with such information.
But for some reason, liberals and the mainstream media think former President Barack Obama&#8217;s CIA Director John Brennan should keep his security clearance, even though he is actively using his access to derail President Trump.
Trump on Wednesday pulled Brennan&#8217;s security clearance, citing &#8220;a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations&#8221; about his administration, and for Brennan&#8217;s move to &#8220;sow division and chaos.&#8221; Trump said his decision was driven by the ongoing federal investigation into alleged Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election.
&#8220;I call it the rigged witch hunt, [it] is a sham,&#8221; Trump told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. &#8220;And these people led it. &#8230; It&#8217;s something that had to be done,&#8221; Trump said.
But Brennan took to the pages of The New York Times on Thursday, writing an op-ed piece in which he said Trump is clearly guilty of colluding with Russians.
&#8220;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 &#8216;Trump Incorporated&#8217; attempted to defraud the government by laundering and concealing the movement of money into their pockets,&#8221; he wrote in the Times.
As for the loss of his clearance, Brennan said that the move showed Trump &#8220;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.&#8221;
But let&#8217;s get something straight: Just like a driver&#8217;s license, retaining security clearance after one leaves a federal post is a privilege, not a right. Yes, some officials have, in the past, kept such clearances, but that was before the hyper-politicization of the intelligence branches.
And Brennan is among the most partisan, repeatedly attacking Trump.
As just one example, Brennan wrote on Twitter on July 16: &#8220;Donald Trump&#8217;s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to &amp; exceeds the threshold of &#8216;high crimes &amp; misdemeanors.&#8217; It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump&#8217;s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin.&#8221;
For his bashing of Trump, Brennan became a darling of the liberal media, appearing on NBC News and MSNBC regularly. He literally made a job of ripping the president (some &#8220;contributors&#8221; make $100,000 or more), prompting Sen. Rand Paul to pose a few questions: &#8220;Is John Brennan monetizing his security clearance? Is John Brennan making millions of dollars divulging secrets to the mainstream media with his attacks on @realDonaldTrump,&#8221; the Kentucky Republican tweeted on July 23.
So Trump simply said, &#8220;Hey, if you&#8217;re going to take this classified information and use it to bash me &#8212; instead of to help your colleagues in the intelligence field &#8212; maybe you don&#8217;t deserve the courtesy of extending your security clearance.&#8221;
Far too many people have security clearances, anyway &#8212; something Obama also sought to rein in. In November 2013, Politico wrote: &#8220;The Obama administration has ordered a government-wide reassessment of how almost 5 million Americans have been granted classified information security clearances and whether each person currently approved to see sensitive national security secrets truly has a need for such access.&#8221;
The Politico piece also cited then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who &#8220;questioned the booming rolls of security-clearance holders. At last count, more than 4.9 million people held clearances, of whom over 1.4 million were cleared for access at the &#8216;Top Secret&#8217; level.&#8221;
Of course, when Trump first began mulling the revocation of said security clearances, Clapper was aghast. (Clapper, you&#8217;ll recall, leaked the anti-Trump dossier to CNN&#8217;s Jake Tapper and helped orchestrate a meeting between former FBI Director James Comey and Trump, which was later leaked to CNN and used as their &#8220;news hook&#8221; to launch the media&#8217;s &#8220;Russia&#8221; narrative. Clapper also lied to Congress about leaking information to Tapper and then was rewarded with a contract at CNN a few months later.)
Appearing on CNN as a paid contributor (like Brennan is with NBC), Clapper slammed Trump&#8217;s plan: &#8220;This is just a very, very petty thing to do. And that&#8217;s about all I&#8217;ll say about it.&#8221;
But soon, Clapper, former FBI Director James Comey, former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice and former National Security Agency director Michael Hayden all might have their clearances revoked.
And that&#8217;s as it should be.
Said Trump on Monday: &#8220;I have a unique constitutional responsibility to protect the nation&#8217;s classified information, including by controlling access to it. Today, in fulfilling that responsibility, I have decided to revoke the security clearance of John Brennan, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Mr. Brennan&#8217;s lying and recent conduct characterized by increasingly frenzied commentary is wholly inconsistent with access to the nation&#8217;s most closely held secrets.&#8221;
Pretty simple, really.

CURL: Trump Was Right To Revoke Former CIA Director Brennan’s Security Clearance

Donald Trump

James Clapper

James Comey

John Brennan

Rand Paul

Susan Rice

Thousands of people blasted former CIA and NSA chief Michael Hayden on Saturday after he compared the Trump administration&#8217;s immigration policies to Nazi concentration camps that were used to murder millions of Jews during World War II.
Hayden&#8217;s comparison came less than 24 hours after two MSNBC analysts <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/31922/watch-msnbc-analysts-claim-trump-admin-operating-ryan-saavedra">declared</a> that the Trump administration was throwing children into concentration camps.
&#8220;Other governments have separated mothers and children,&#8221; Hayden tweeted.
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Other governments have separated mothers and children <a href="https://t.co/tvlBkGjT0h">pic.twitter.com/tvlBkGjT0h</a>
&#8212; Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) <a href="https://twitter.com/GenMhayden/status/1008035777455026178?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The reaction to Hayden&#8217;s tweet was overwhelmingly negative:
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Hard to believe a man who publicly calls himself a General could make an implication as false, obscene and offensive as this.
An embarrassment to the United States Air Force. <a href="https://t.co/yjJd81uskg">https://t.co/yjJd81uskg</a>
&#8212; Jessie Jane Duff (@JessieJaneDuff) <a href="https://twitter.com/JessieJaneDuff/status/1008061945604460544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
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This is disgraceful. But not surprising. <a href="https://t.co/sTqdB9CS52">https://t.co/sTqdB9CS52</a>
&#8212; Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) <a href="https://twitter.com/KurtSchlichter/status/1008088674704113664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Have you lost your mind? Why are hacks like Hayden attempting to exploit the Holocaust? This is despicable. <a href="https://t.co/fDyO9jf802">https://t.co/fDyO9jf802</a>
&#8212; Nick Short (@PoliticalShort) <a href="https://twitter.com/PoliticalShort/status/1008066735549898753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Other governments spied on their own people. Not sure you want to play this game. <a href="https://t.co/XB9Q1ihhr7">https://t.co/XB9Q1ihhr7</a>
&#8212; Sean Davis (@seanmdav) <a href="https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1008103709421826051?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Hope you enjoyed dancing on my ancestors&#8217; graves, <a href="https://twitter.com/GenMhayden?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GenMhayden</a>. <a href="https://t.co/y2AK6CxGcN">pic.twitter.com/y2AK6CxGcN</a>
&#8212; Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) <a href="https://twitter.com/JordanSchachtel/status/1008099774741049345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Funny you bring up the Nazis.
Because the spying you conducted on Americans would have made Hitler jealous. <a href="https://t.co/cJYY8VhfIE">https://t.co/cJYY8VhfIE</a>
&#8212; Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) <a href="https://twitter.com/Techno_Fog/status/1008082908584857605?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Retired General Gets Smacked Hard For Using Holocaust To Score Political Points

Trump Administration

In an interview with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/michael-hayden-trump-media-non-fact-based-world-view-2017-3">Business Insider</a>&#8217;s Oliver Darcy, Former Central Agency (CIA) Director Michael Hayden described Breitbart as a news media outlet with an illegitimate worldview that operated in a realm of fiction.
&#8220;There are some outlets that have incredibly powerful lenses by which they view the facts they collect. I think the Breitbart and the likes are off the chart in terms of shaping data to meet the preconceptions,&#8221; said Hayden. 
Hayden described Breitbart as animated by an &#8220;illegitimate worldview,&#8221; engaging in distortion of facts:
<blockquote>
&#8220;They have a worldview, and they are playing with it. I think it&#8217;s an illegitimate worldview, and I think it&#8217;s a non-fact-based worldview. It&#8217;s a worldview in which preexisting visions seem to be being used to distort the fact pattern that exists.
</blockquote>
Presumably invited to do so by Darcy, Hayden described as &#8220;very troubling&#8221; the premise that President Donald Trump &#8220;[seems] to value Breitbart reports over data compiled by intelligence agencies.&#8221;
&#8220;You have a Breitbart News story essentially launching the Starfleet of the federal government about one of the most horrible political scandals in American history, if true,&#8221; said Hayden.
&#8220;Breitbart doesn&#8217;t do any creative journalism &#8212; it just moves the parts around,&#8221; said Hayden. He claimed others had told him Breitbart misrepresents information it sources from other news media outlets.
Hayden pushed the left-wing and Democrat narrative of the news media landscape operating in a &#8220;postfact world&#8221; as a function of the rise of right-wing, conservative, and anti-communist news media outlets.
&#8220;It&#8217;s kind of scary &#8212; a postfact world. How does intelligence survive in a postfact world?&#8221; asked Hayden.
Hayden also drew parallels between English-language propaganda outlets operated by the Russian state such as Russia Today (RT) and &#8220;conservative American&#8221; news media outlets and personalities such as the Drudge Report, Sean Hannity, and Breitbart. 
&#8220;There are powerful parallels between the Russian narrative and things being said [by conservative American/pro-Trump news media outlets],&#8221; said Hayden, alleging the existence of &#8220;an amazing consistency&#8221; in perspectives across the aforementioned news media outlets.
No such comments were published regarding the broad commonalities between narratives pushed by left-wing and Democrat-aligned news media outlets (i.e. CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, and The Washington Post) and English-language propaganda outlets operated by both allied and adversarial governments (i.e. the United Kingdom&#8217;s BCC, Canada&#8217;s CBC, France&#8217;s France24, Russia&#8217;s RT and Sputnik, Qatar&#8217;s Al-Jazeera, and Iran&#8217;s PressTV).
Hayden&#8217;s former roles in the federal bureaucracy include Director of the National Security Agency under former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence under former President George W. Bush, and Director of the CIA under former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. 
Hayden retired from the US Air Force in 2008 as a four-star general.

Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k">Twitter</a>.

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