"What if the practical effect of taking away a security clearance from a former official who was involved in the formative stages of the Russian investigation is that you interfere with that former official accessing his or her own notes and files? His or her own materials? From the former agency where those people worked during their time working on the Russia investigation.
According to Brennan, that's something that you'd need to do and that you might employ your security clearance to do if you're going to be questioned on these matters as part of ongoing investigations.
Look at the list. Look at almost all the names on the list of people the president wants to do this to. Brennan, CIA director during the Russia attack. Clapper, director of national intelligence during the Russia attack. Comey, director of the FBI during the Russia attack. McCabe, deputy director of the FBI during the Russia attack. Strzok, head of counterintelligence at the FBI during the Russia attack. Susan Rice, national security adviser during the Russia attack. Sally Yates, deputy attorney general during the Russia attack.
Security clearances may or may not be something any of these people are using for their current work. But if they are stripped of their clearances or blocked from ever getting them again, what does that do to their ability to prepare for testimony and to testify if need be? We have good reason, after all, to think that a bunch of these people might have important things to say provided they can speak about classified material in a classified setting.
Maddow's take on this is slightly different than Ellie Honig's, her focus is on the ability of these persons to be able to testify where classified information would be involved since many of them, Comey and Sally Yates specifically, have stated under oath that they were unable to answer questions in an open session on whether there was or wasn't collusion because that remains classified.
That would be obstruction and witness tampering, but it's still basically the same problem as witness retaliation.
Friday, Aug 17, 2018 - 11:12:10 AM Eastern Daylight Time - Frank Vyan Walton
This post is mostly found material rather than original writing, but I do hope it's helpful to get more eyeballs on it.
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