Celebs Furious After Trump Snips John Brennan’s Security Clearance: ‘What a Small Person’

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Joshua Caplan

A handful of Hollywood personalities immediately began to fume over President Donald Trump’s Wednesday announcement that he would revoke the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan.

The White House announced it is pulling Brennan’s security clearance after revealing last month the Obama-era intelligence official’s access to classified information was “under review.”

“Mr. Brennan has recently leveraged his status as a former high-ranking official with access to highly sensitive information to make a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations, wild outbursts on the internet and television about this administration,” press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told members of the White House press corps.

Reacting to the announcement, actor-director turned political activist Rob Reiner called Brennan a “patriot” and urged Democrats to vote out Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections before the United States is surrendered to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “The would be Autocrat strikes again. John Brennan is a patriot,” Reiner wrote on Twitter. “Stripping the former CIA director of his security clearance should frighten all patriots. Before this mentally unstable fool completely destroys our Democracy & hands US over to Putin, Nov.6 VOTE!!!”

Andy Lassner, executive producer of The Ellen Show, tagged Brennan is his tweet and said “[Trump] isn’t 1/1,000,000th of the man and patriot that you are.”

“I thank you for all your incredible and ongoing service to our country,” Lassner added.

NUMB3RS co-creator Nicolas Falacci urged NBC anchor Katy Tur not to downplay the decision to revoke Brennan’s clearance as a “distraction,” claiming it was a decision a dictator would have made. “PLEASE don’t minimize Brennan’s clearance revoking as a ‘distraction.’ Its [sic] an intimidation tactic used by authoritarian dictators,” he pleaded. “This is about silencing the 1A rights of critics of the President & the WH press corps should have flipped out.”

Progressive actress Mia Farrow derided President Trump’s “vindictive pettiness” over the move. “What a small person Trump is,” tweeted the Peyton Place star.

Deepwater Horizon’s Douglas M. Griffin tweeted: “Today @realDonaldTrump revoked John Brennan’s security clearance because he didn’t like Brennan exercising Freedom of Speech. Dangerous & stupid move by a dangerous & stupid man. Brennan’s clearance allowed him to be a resource for current intel officials. Pride before country.”

Adam Best, a film producer who claimed to have been blocked on Twitter by President Trump, said: “Decorated former CIA Director John Brennan gets his security clearance revoked but Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner still have theirs. The timeline we live in is an absolute joke.”

Actor Tommy Campbell asked if President Trump’s security clearance could be revoked instead of Brennan’s.

Actress and television personality Yvette Nicole Brown taunted White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, describing her announcement concerning Brennan as petty. “And @PressSec that little pettiness (and projection) about Brennan has not made ANY of us forget about that ‘dog’ comment or the N-Word tape. We still know who Tang is and who YOU are,” she wrote. “We can all multi-task!  God bless, hun!”

Travon Free, a writer for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, questioned how Brennan’s security clearance could be revoked while senior White House advisor Jared Kushner could hold on to his ability to access classified information.

Comedian Tony Posnanski emoted: “If the fact that Trump took John Brennan’s security clearance away but Jared Kushner still has his doesn’t infuriate you… Then something is wrong with you.” Kathy Griffin retweeted this hot take.

“They think they’re about to change the conversation to Brennan because Omarosa got them shook,” said Into the Badlands writer-producer LaToya Morgan.

Grammy-winning songwriter Peter Zizzo speculated Brennan’s security clearance was pulled for criticizing the president’s action during a joint press conference with Putin in Helsinki, Finland.

“Trump – TRUMP! – citing ‘erratic conduct & behavior’ as cause for revoking the security clearance of a former CIA Director,” Zizzo wrote on Twitter. “Surely it had NOTHING to do w Brennan’s stern criticism of him after the Helsinki disaster.”

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