Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday announced President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance, but neglected to say that decision had apparently been made three weeks ago, according to a document distributed to members of the media after Wednesday’s press briefing.
Sanders announced the security clearance revocation without any mention that it seemingly wasn’t breaking news, nor any explanation for why it had apparently been kept a secret.
“Today, in fulfilling that responsibility [to protect the nation’s classified information], I have decided to revoke the security clearance of John Brennan,” Sanders read, quoting a statement from Trump.
But the statement was dated July 26, according to a document distributed to members of the media.
The date on President Trump's statement about revoking John Brennan's security clearance? July 26. Three weeks ago. I guess it's just a coincidence that the White House decided to announce this as they struggle to deal with the fallout from Omarosa's book. pic.twitter.com/c6TvfmOD9e
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) August 15, 2018
Sanders first mentioned that Trump was looking into revoking the security clearances of several critics of his — all of whom were former intelligence and national security officials — on July 23.
Why did Sanders maintain that Trump ordered Brennan’s clearance revoked on Wednesday? Was the July 26 date a mistake? Or, was it perhaps because she’d have some difficult questions to deal with today otherwise, on whether the President has used racial slurs, or how she could have screwed up statistics she cited regarding African American employment during the Obama administration.
Sanders didn’t respond to TPM’s request for comment about the Trump statement. But the White House seems to have realized it made an error.
The White House has now issued a second statement that doesn't include this date. https://t.co/dpNsUUo0Y8
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) August 15, 2018