Trump warns he will revoke Ohr’s clearance
Wife of Justice Department official worked for Fusion GPS, which hired spy for dossier
WASHINGTON» President Donald Trump said Friday that he suspects he “very quickly” will revoke the security clearance for a Justice Department official whose wife worked for the firm involved in producing a dossier on Trump’s ties to Russia.
Signaling that his efforts to target clearances over his frustration with the Russia investigation were not over, Trump tweeted that it was a “disgrace” for Bruce Ohr to be in the Justice Department.
His comments came two days after he yanked the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan, saying he had to do “something” about the “rigged” federal probe of Russian election interference. Critics have cast it as an act of political vengeance.
Ohr has come under Republican scrutiny for his contacts to Glenn Simpson, cofounder of Fusion GPS. The opposition research firm hired former British spy Christopher Steele during the 2016 presidential campaign to compile the dossier on Trump and his Russia ties.
Ohr’s wife, Nellie, worked for Fusion GPS during the campaign — something Trump has tweeted about to highlight his assertions of political bias behind the Russia investigation.
Former U.S. security officials on Thursday issued scathing rebukes to Trump for moving against Brennan. Trump’s admission that he acted out of frustration with the Russia probe underscored his willingness to use his executive power to fight back against an investigation he sees as a threat to his presidency.
Legal experts said the dispute may add to the evidence being reviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller.
In an opinion piece in The New York Times, Brennan said Trump’s decision, announced Wednesday, to deny him access to classified information was a desperate attempt to end Mueller’s investigation. Brennan, who served under President Barack Obama and has become a vocal Trump critic, called Trump’s claims that he did not collude with Russia “hogwash.”
The Washington Post reported late Friday that the White House was drafting additional security-clearance cancellations.
Trump wants to sign off on “most, if not all” of the documents revoking the security clearances, said one senior White House official, who indicated that communications aides, including spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Bill Shine, the newly named deputy chief of staff, have discussed the optimum time to release the cancellations as a distraction during unfavorable news cycles.