Former CIA Director Brennan: Republican spines left with John McCain

Former CIA Director John Brennan slammed congressional Republicans on Friday night, saying the party’s ability to stand up to President Trump left Capitol Hill with Sen. John McCain (R), who has been in Arizona for months battling brain cancer.

In an interview on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Brennan called for a “reckoning” within the GOP over Trump’s frequent criticism of the intelligence community.

{mosads}”I got into some real donnybrook fights with John McCain over policy,” Brennan told host Bill Maher. “I never once questioned his integrity and his interest in doing what is best for this country.”

“But since John McCain has left the Hill, the Republican spines have gone with him,” the former CIA director continued. “And there needs to be some reckoning in the Republican Party, [because] we can’t allow this to go on.”

Brennan, a frequent critic of Trump, found himself the target of the Trump administration this month when White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that Trump was revoking his security clearance.

The White House has indicated that other current and former officials who mostly served in the Obama administration are also under review to have their clearances revoked for what Trump called “politicizing” and “monetizing” their public service.

“Mr. Brennan’s lying and recent conduct characterized by increasingly frenzied commentary is wholly inconsistent with access to the nation’s most closely held secrets and facilities,” the president said in the statement earlier this month.

Brennan fired back, denying the accusations in interviews and writing on Thursday that America was watching the “collapse” of Trump’s presidency.

“I take no delight in seeing the steady collapse of a U.S. Presidency, but I do take strong comfort in knowing that the rule of law & our great government institutions are prevailing. Things ultimately will get better, and we will heal as a Nation,” he tweeted.

I take no delight in seeing the steady collapse of a U.S. Presidency, but I do take strong comfort in knowing that the rule of law & our great government institutions are prevailing. Things ultimately will get better, and we will heal as a Nation.

— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) August 23, 2018