Trump critic and former CIA chief John Brennan to brief Democrats on Iran
by Caitlin Yilek
| May 19, 2019 03:00 PM
House Democrats have invited former CIA director and frequent Trump critic John Brennan to brief them on the situation in Iran.
Brennan is scheduled to speak at the party's weekly caucus meeting Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. Wendy Sherman, a former State Department official who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal under President Barack Obama, was also invited.
The meeting will take place the same day Trump administration officials will update lawmakers on escalating tensions between the two countries. Democrats will likely attend both briefings.
In recent weeks, the administration has increased U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf and withdrawn nonessential personnel from Iraq, citing "troubling and escalatory indications and warnings" from Tehran.
Brennan, who left the CIA in 2017, has been highly critical of President Trump, especially throughout special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
"When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history," Brennan tweeted in March 2018. "America will triumph over you." Trump later called Brennan a "total lowlife."
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said last August that Trump had decided to strip Brennan and some other former officials of their security clearances. Certain officials generally keep their clearances after office to be able to provide insight and advice to their successors. It’s not clear if Brennan actually was stripped of his clearance.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-critic-and-former-cia-chief-john-brennan-to-brief-democrats-on-iran