Disgraced John Brennan Now Says He Never Accused Trump of Treason

In one of the most fitting episodes of payback we’ve seen in the political realm in some time, President Trump revoked former CIA Director John Brennan of his security clearance last week. The move was a long time coming (and was potently telegraphed by the White House more than a month ago), and it was richly deserved. Brennan has been all over television for the past year trying to convince the world that he has some super special insider information about the Trump campaign’s collusion with Russia; now, he can still go on NBC and claim collusion, but he won’t be able to use his security clearance to insinuate that he knows more than the average leftist pundit.

The straw that broke the camel’s back came in mid-July, when President Trump held his summit with Vladimir Putin. At the time, Brennan wrote on Twitter: “Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of ‘high crimes & misdemeanors.’ It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???”

There are not many ways to read this. Our takeaway, which we’re pretty sure can be justified by the text, is that Trump committed treason, that he was guilty of a crime, and that the only solution was immediate impeachment. Right? That’s not exactly a crazy interpretation, correct?

Well, apparently after some time to think about what he’s done to his own post-service career, Brennan wants us to know that he was just playing around with the whole treason comment. When he said “nothing short of treasonous,” he was just, you know, having a little fun with the English language or something.

“After Helsinki, you were stark, and even a little bit scary in your criticism of his behavior. You said it rose to treason,” said Rachel Maddow on her show Friday.

“I said it was nothing short of treasonous,” Brennan acknowledged.

“Do you stand by that consideration, and can you explain, can you elaborate what you mean by treasonous? It’s a very serious allegation.”

“I know what the Russians did in interfering in the election,” Brennan said. “I have 100% confidence in what they did. And for Mr. Trump to stand on that stage in Helsinki, with all the world’s eyes upon him, and to basically he doesn’t understand why would the Russians interfere in the election. He’s given Mr. Putin and the Russians a pass time after time after time, and he keeps referring to this whole investigation as a witch hunt, and to me, this was an attack against the foundational principle of our great republic, which is the right of all Americans to choose their elected leaders.”

Mmm-hmm, mm-hmm, yes, that sounds like the kind of nonsensical garbage you’ve been spewing.

But what’s this? Oh, he’s not finished…

“And for Mr. Trump to so cavalierly just dismiss that, yes, sometimes my Irish comes out, and — in my tweets, and I did say that it rises to and exceeds the level of high crimes and misdemeanors and is nothing short of treasonous,” he continued. “I didn’t mean that he committed treason, but it was a term that I used, nothing short of treasonous.”

Just a term I used, no biggie. Like when you say you’re so hungry you could eat a horse.

It’s ridiculous that Brennan is backtracking on this, but then again, it was absurd that he would say it in the first place. We’re actually not sure which is worse. Either way, this is clearly a man that has no business anywhere NEAR our state secrets.