Ruining the Good In Pursuit of the Perfect | Baby Matt Gaetz Legacy

Jesse Watters: The Democrats Are Laughing At The Republicans Now

  • “Matt Gaetz doesn’t want to be speaker and he has no idea who else should be speaker. He just knows Kevin McCarthy shouldn’t be speaker.”

This is going to be a post that doesn’t completely side fully with one side of the GOP aisle or the other. I am going to present some articles and media that I have seen in this short period since House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was vacated. Again, I am not fully committed to one side as I sympathize with arguments from both sides of the GOP aisle.

What are my thoughts at the outset? Well, while I sympathize with Gaetz’s qualms with McCarthy breaking his promise on the bills coming to the floor, and some other issues. BUT! Was right now the best time to remove him? I say no. The bill that most upset Gaetz was one that would have cut spending in government by 8%, with substantial increases in border security. Some say this is a reducing of the size of government, however, I view reduction of government as striking regulation or the closing of Federal Departments… something many past Republican’s promised, but never happens.

Until Trump’s “if you pass regulation you have to strike two.”

Here I am thinking of a quote by Thomas Sowell speaking of government/political debates (to the right – click to watch short video). YES, we need to get our fiscal house in order — something I say is impossible, especially with the coming de-dollarization. Even with that last statement, do you throw all economic soundness to the wind? No, you reign in government.

I think Gaetz ruined quite a few avenues… even if Jim Jordan gets the Speakership — can he be as ecumenical as McCarthy? I don’t know. And I love Rep. Jordan!

I may be wrong, as often in the case in politics, the best case scenario could come from this. However, as a friend roughly noted on my Facebook, “Gaetz is a douchebag attention whore with no answers.” Here is an excellent interview I heard this morning:

Rep. Mike Lawler On Matt Gaetz And His Recent Actions The House Republican Majority

(BTW, the news that McCarthy would  not seek the position again… he may stick with this, but Hugh Hewitt seemed not to be privy to this bit of information.)

After sharing this story from RED STATE with my boys, a bit of conversation ensued:

…. But, from where I sit, if anything were to blow back on Gaetz, it would be the fact that he cozied up with Democrats to remove a Republican. He did more than simply engage in some bipartisanship; he actively collaborated with Democrats to remove McCarthy knowing he would never get enough support from Republicans to accomplish this feat. Regardless of how one feels about McCarthy, this is sure to leave a bad taste in some people’s mouths.

Now, let’s put the shoe on the other foot.

It is also possible that Gaetz’s unholy alliance with Team Blue might not matter as much as it seems. Among those who do not hold McCarthy in high regard, this pragmatic, even Machiavellian, move might just boost Gaetz’s popularity with the base, many of whom are disenchanted with the GOP. The fact that the overwhelming majority of Republican lawmakers voted against the motion might further solidify their dissatisfaction with the GOP. If they view McCarthy as ineffective, then how will they view those who voted to keep him in his position?

However, those who might feel this way likely do not represent most Republican voters. When McCarthy was first installed as speaker, an Economist/YouGov poll showed that 59 percent of Republicans approved of him while only 21 percent disapproved. …..

Here are the texts between myself and my oldest. (Left to right, click to enlarge)

And according to Gaetz, who now are RINO? (Republican in Name Only). When a majority of Trump supporters backed McCarthy, even those that initially challenged McCarthy’s original Speakership:

So… the bomb has been dropped by “Baby Gaetz,” let’s let the chips fall over the next couple of weeks and maybe revisit the topic then. But let’s not forget until then the damage the GOP need to overcome — PJ-MEDIA:

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) successfully led a coup against now-former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday. He managed to eke out a “win” by rallying the entire Democratic caucus and eight Republicans to oust him. It’s the first time that has happened in U.S. history.

And it’s a total clown show.

Not only does it distract from the already tense budget negotiations, but it makes a laughingstock of the GOP—and the U.S.—and gives Democrats even more leverage to push through their radical policies.

Gaetz got a win, but at what cost? Sure, he’ll raise a lot of campaign money from this—he’s already sending out emails and asking for money on Fox News— but is there a plan going forward? Of course not. The two congressmen whose names have been bandied about as potential House speakers—Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Steve Scalise (La.)—both spoke on behalf of McCarthy ahead of the vote and then voted to keep him as speaker. McCarthy announced tonight that he will not seek reelection as speaker. Gaetz stated emphatically that he doesn’t want the job. At publishing time, Scalise had sort of thrown his hat into the ring, and some are floating Trump as the next speaker, but none of that will be sorted out quickly.

House Democrats and Republicans have been at a stalemate over budget negotiations. The continuing resolution will expire on Nov. 17. There will be another showdown and possible shutdown as the country races toward the proverbial fiscal cliff. Instead of working on that problem, Republicans will be squabbling over the speakership. How does that help the country?

Gaetz, whether intentionally or ignorantly, overplayed his hand. He’s being celebrated in some circles as the brave defender of all that’s good, but not everyone is on board.

Asked about former president Trump’s support for his plan to oust McCarthy—whom Trump had endorsed and supported throughout his tenure—Gaetz equivocated and wouldn’t give a straight answer.

Trump took to Truth Social to berate Republicans for their disunity, writing, “Why is it that Republicans are always fighting among themselves, why aren’t they fighting the Radical Left Democrats who are destroying our Country?

Hardly a ringing endorsement of Gaetz’s strategy (if he even had one)……

So, this coming Tuesday [next week, October 10th] we will see Congress meet again to start the process of choosing another Speaker. Hugh Hewitt asks Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI),

“what’s next?”

Gaetz/Seinfeld Bob Menendez Cold-Open

This may be the greatest video to ever be posted on this site.

  • Authorities say they found nearly $500,000 in cash, much of it hidden in clothing and closets, as well as more than $100,000 in gold bars in a search of the New Jersey home Menendez, 69, shares with his wife. (WaTi)

FBI Director Christopher Wray Getting His Arse Whooped!

Republican Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson rattled off several scandals by the FBI to his face during a Weaponization Committee hearing Wednesday.

Matt Gaetz questions Wray on FBI Cover-up

Here is the Internet Responding to the FBI Director (and THIS IS the questioning that Rep Gaetz was talking about):

Thomas Massie: Gun purchases and Pipe Bomber

Rep. Andy Biggs: “How many agents or human resources were present at the Capitol Complex Facility on January 6th?”

TIMCAST

FBI GETS DUPED By Russians Pretending To Be Ukrainian, Fulfilled False Censorship Requests

FBI Maintains a Workspace Inside the Law Firm of Perkins Coie

CONSERVATIVE TREE HOUSE hat-tip:

There is very little that surprises me, but this is completely stunning.  An FBI whistleblower came forth to inform Rep Jim Jordan and Rep Matt Gaetz that the FBI maintains a workspace inside the law firm of Perkins Coie.

In response to a letter sent by Rep. Matt Gaetz and Jim Jordan, Perkins Coie, the legal arm of the DNC and Hillary Clinton, admitted they have been operating an FBI workspace in their Washington D.C. office since 2012.  Pay attention to that date, it matters.

This is a huge development.  Essentially, what is being admitted in this claim is that a portal existed into FBI databases within the law firm that represents democrats.  This means access to FBI database searches exists inside the office of the DNC and Clinton legal group.  Think about the ramifications here.

CTH has long claimed there was some kind of direct portal link between the Clinton campaign team and the FBI databases.  There were too many trails of extracted non-minimized research evidence in the hands of the Clinton team that CTH could not trace to a transferring FBI official.  If Perkins Coie operated a portal in their office that allowed them to conduct search queries of American citizens, then everything would make sense.  That access portal is exactly what is being claimed and admitted in this report……………

National Defense University Pushing Socialism – Fur Reals

(RED STATE) Tuesday’s House Armed Services Committee hearing on the Fiscal Year 2023 Defense Budget Request produced some great theater as Florida Representative Matt Gaetz took on the shabby and incompetent record of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

It all started innocently enough, though the contempt the two men had for one another was on display.

(100% FED-UPRep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has a reputation for exposing the Left and their radical ideology in House committee hearings. Today was no exception.

This afternoon, Rep. Matt Gaetz blasted Joe Biden’s woke Defense Secretary Lloydoor with the House Armed Services Committee Austin during a heated exchange on the House fl. Gaetz began by exposing the woke secretary, accusing him of allowing a lecture by Thomas Piketty, “Responding to China: The Case For Global Justice and Democratic Socialism,” that took place at the National Defense University. The concept of the lecture was “It’s time for Socialism,” Gaetz told him, as Secretary Austin attempted to interrupt him to object to Gaetz’s assertions.

[….]

Gaetz ended with a final death blow. “I saw that the Obama administration tried to destroy our military by starving it of resources, and it seems the Biden administration is trying to destroy our military by force-feeding it wokeism.”

Will The Real [FBI] “Insurrectionist” Please Stand Up

Who is Ray Epps? A mountain of evidence points to him as the lead instigator of the January 6th riots. Yet as the Attorney General’s dragnet sweeps up and indicts innocent Americans, why hasn’t Epps been charged by the FBI? Join Mark as he raises the question that everyone is asking: Is Epps really a federal law enforcement agent?

While I have known about this for some time and posted links on my Facebook Page for my site…. here are some recent videos explaining Ray a bit and why people are MORE THAN curious. Here is a comment comparing the conflicting ideas to note with more about this Grandma and the “Deprogramming” in American reeducation camps that is being enacted:

  • Grandma taking selfies gets raided by 20 FBI agents at 4am but this dude on video inciting a “INsUReCtIoN” is free. That should tell you everything

Here is more on her via LAURA INGRAHAM:

…..Morgan-Lloyd told the court she’s a grandmother from a “very small town” in southern Indiana filled with “simple people who love our country.” She wrote that “Schindler’s List” was very moving, and made her wonder how people could deny that the Holocaust happened or, like her half-German son-in-law claims, according to her report, say that “‘Only’ a million Jews died.”

Morgan-Lloyd wrote that reading “Just Mercy” “makes me reconsider my view on the death penalty” because it “was far too easy for the people to convict a man of a crime that he could not have committed.”

Shaner told the court the process helped Morgan-Lloyd “educate herself and to learn the American history she was not taught in school.” Like any good defense attorney, she paints a sympathetic portrait of her client: pointing out how Morgan-Lloyd lost her job after General Electric shipped it overseas, how she was thrown right into motherhood after marrying her husband, now helps take care of her grandchildren, and how her “husband and family are the world to her.”

[….]

Morgan-Lloyd’s court case will likely be over soon, and it remains to be determined whether she’ll continue her educational process while serving her sentence….

(HUFFPO)

THE ABOVE WAS FOR CLARITY OF COMPARISON MENTIONED BELOW

I found this long video interesting and will follow it up with two more as well as a link to REVOLVER’S story on Ray Epps.

Congressman Matt Gaetz and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene toured the area of the Capitol Complex where alleged federal informant Ray Epps and his team first breached fencing. Right Side Broadcasting News exclusively interviewed the representatives and discussed the investigative reporting by Revolver.News

To Wit….

Two More Videos:

TUCKER

CROWDER

 

Katy Tur’s Tweet About Democrat Violence and Insurrection

I thought this Twitter response[s] tp Katy Tur was excellent (TWITCHY)… and it seems like people forget the past easily (when Democrats are involved):

RESPONSES


FLASHBACKS


Just a reminder of past events where Democrats praised offices being taken over.

A long montage (8-minutes), but the key point is the first few minutes of the longer montage.

This video is from Larry’s YouTube Channel. At the end of his small montage I add video of a larger call to violence by [hypocritical] Democrats.

Democrats for 4-years say Trump is illegitimated.

I use an excerpt of Matt Gaetz floor speech from the 6th (January 2021), and combine it with Dinesh D’Souza’s RUMBLE upload

Impeachment Lies – Democratic Chaos

Below you will see in my upload (3rd video below), that it is true that the witnesses the Democrats call are refuting their narrative. EVEN WITHOUT REPUBLICANS calling witnesses of their own. So while the total count on the committees are 58 Democrat and 47 Republicans — the Founders set it up for the entire House to be involved. And as you will see, the inquiry has begun last week (again, 3rd video).

And when they are allowed to cross examine (the Democrats often times stop this from happening by shift which committee is handling the interview, or making it an Intel case), QUID PRO QUO is not crossing the witnesses lips:

  • REP. RATCLIFFE: Ambassador Taylor again today I found him to be forthright. He had very strong opinions on Donald Trump’s approach to foreign policy. But again the mainstream media reporting that he provided evidence of a quid pro quo involving military aid is false. I questioned him directly on that. Under Adam Schiff’s rules I can’t tell you what he said but I can tell you what he didn’t say. Neither he or any other witness has provided testimony that the Ukrainians were aware that military aide was being withheld. You can’t have a quid pro quo with no quo!

I put together a “collage” of issues detailing why Republicans would “STORM” these secretive — nonConstitutional — hearings in order to try and make them public. Public. They are not trying to cover up anything, they are trying to make it fair and open. You would think the media would flock to this idea… however they are not. What follows are talking heads, politicians, and the like discussing and clarifying the issues.

Here is a person intimately involved in the process during the Clinton process in the house, Newt Gingrich. His NEWSWEEK article is excellent!

two very different approaches can be seen in the voting pattern in the House. In November 1973, the House voted to fund the investigation into President Richard Nixon on a bipartisan 367-51 vote. By February 1974, everyone was so convinced that Rodino was being fair and nonpartisan that the resolution to conduct a formal investigation passed 410-4.

[….]

The result of our openness was that a substantial number of Democrats continued to vote with us on the procedures despite intense pressure from the White House and outside groups. In September 1998, the House voted to release the Starr report by 363-63 (nine failed to vote). Among Democrats, 138 voted to proceed in a fair way, and only 63 voted against investigating President Clinton.

Think about that. In 1998, we carried House Democrats by better than 2:1 to investigate President Clinton.

In the current atmosphere—with the dishonest, one-sided rigged game, and indeed, an obvious liar as chair of the investigation—can you imagine two-thirds of the House Republicans voting with Pelosi and Schiff for a witch hunt conducted under totally partisan rules?

Everyone who is interested in better understanding how fair people used judicial standards and basic fairness in 1973 and 1998 should read former Congressman and current Judge Jim Rogan’s personal history of the process in an important book: Catching Our Flag: Behind the Scenes of a Presidential Impeachment.

It will make crystal clear that the current partisan actions are a complete sham.

Mark Levin had an excellent dressing down of Jake Tapper from CNN regarding his recent commentary on the GOP “STORMING” the sham process the Democrats are calling an impeachment inquiry. Levin plays audio of Jake Tapper discussing the impeachment issue of the recent “STORMING” of the sham process the Democrats have made the vaunted impeachment inquiry. The GOP, mind you, merely wants the process in the public with the same rights afforded to Trump as were afforded to Nixon and Clinton. You would assume the media want the same thing… but in fact they are supporting the “Star Chamber” like process.

What kind of issues might the GOP regarding witnesses they would call up? Hunter Biden maybe? Joe Biden? Bill Taylor… in cross-examination? Maybe on the following snippet from ACE OF SPADES?

No big deal, but Bill Taylor — Adam Schiff’s star chamber witness — also has ties to the Burisma-funded Atlantic Council.

Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor, who provided key testimony to the Democrats’ controversial impeachment inquiry yesterday, has evidenced a close relationship with the Atlantic Council think tank, even writing Ukraine policy pieces with the organization’s director and analysis articles published by the Council.

The Atlantic Council is funded by and works in partnership with Burisma, the natural gas company at the center of allegations regarding Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.

In addition to a direct relationship with the Atlantic Council, Taylor for the last nine years also served as a senior adviser to the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC), which has co-hosted events with the Atlantic Council and has participated in events co-hosted jointly by the Atlantic Council and Burisma.

Meanwhile, a search of government records reveals that Joe Biden intervened with both the DHS and the DOJ on behalf of Graft Hunter’s clients.

From the Washington Examiner. Outline.com link here.

Joe Biden privately contacted the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice when he was a senior and influential U.S. senator to discuss issues that his son Hunter’s firm was being paid to lobby on, according to government records.

On at least two occasions, Biden contacted federal departments to discuss issues related to Hunter’s firm’s lobbying clients, according to records reviewed by the Washington Examiner.

Government records show that Biden, who has always insisted he knows nothing about his son’s business activities, helped Hunter’s work with strategic and highly specific interventions that could have benefited his son to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars….

If the hearing was fair and honest… the Democrats know they would lose the public confidence. Hence the secrecy. Even with the Republicans — with biased rules, are prevailing when allowed to cross examine.


More Video Fodder


After Rep. Adam Schiff read a false version of President Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Zelensky and claimed it to be parody, Larry decides to do a little investigating into why the Congressman is so confident in the whistleblower, whether he had contact with him, and whether the whistleblower actually had firsthand knowledge of the call. Larry also takes a look into why the whistleblower process requirement for firsthand knowledge was mysteriously removed.

ELDER

GRAHAM!

BONGINO

John Dean’s “Worse Than Watergate” Game-show (UPDATED)

Sean Hannity Monologues, but he has Joe Concha on to discuss John Dean’s jump at monitory payoffs. Or, as the FEDERALIST puts it, “JOHN DEAN STARS IN ‘WORSE THAN WATERGATE!’“:

….It was in 1987 that Dean argued that Ronald Reagan’s Iran-contra scandal was worse than Watergate….. It was 2005, when Democrats were toying around with the idea of impeaching George W. Bush, that then-Sen. Barbara Boxer sent a letter presidential scholars, asking them about comments “by Richard Nixon’s lawyer John Dean that Bush is ‘the first president to admit to an impeachable offense’.”…….

Concha ends the interview (what little of it there is) with just how crazy the Left is.

More from the FEDERALIST:

John W. Dean likes to refer to himself as a “Nixon historian” these days, which is more or less like calling Willie Cicci the “chronicler” of the Corleone family saga.

Politico reports that House Judiciary Committee is preparing to call the “Watergate star witness and former Nixon White House counsel” to testify about the Mueller report, in “an effort to draw public attention” to the possible impeachment of President Donald Trump.

The word “star,” often used to describe Dean, is, at best, a poetic truth. His expertise on the issue of impeachment, long sought by liberals, was acquired by helping plan one of the most infamous scandals in American political history, snitching on everyone who conspired with him and then cashing in on the fallout for the next 47 years.

It’s what someone in Cicci’s line of work might call a “racket.” Good work if you can get it.

As White House counsel, Dean had known about the eavesdropping that ended the Nixon presidency even before Nixon did. He was not some innocent man swept up in the ugly currents of history. Assistant U.S. Attorney Earl Silbert accused Dean of not only being “at the center of the criminality” but also withholding crucial evidence while plea bargaining his way out of trouble.

There’s no evidence that Dean agreed to be a whistleblower because of a tortured conscience or because he wanted to preserve law and order or even because he was attempting to save the Nixon presidency, as he likes to claim. There is evidence, however, that he turned to the Feds when Nixon refused to promise him immunity from prosecution.

[….]

Was Dean on Nixon’s list? Well, no doubt he was reviled by the White House once he turned on the president. Anyone who’s read about Watergate, though, is likely aware that the non-fictional Dean was sent the infamous Enemies List back in 1971.

Did he heroically run to the Justice Department? Did he leak it the news to the media?  No, his office wrote a confidential memo detailing how the list could utilize “available federal machinery,” like tax audits from the IRS, “to screw our political enemies.” It was Dean who, after Nixon suggested that if he wins a second term the White House should target the president’s enemies more aggressively, responded, “That’s an exciting prospect.”

I’ve seen Dean get away with bragging about how he warned Nixon that there was “a cancer on the presidency” on numerous occasions. As the audiotape of the incidentshows, Dean was referring to a political threat to Nixon, not an ethical one that threatened the office. Here he is, making the claim—while conspiracy mongering about the Russia investigation—to CNN’s Jake Tapper, who gets a kick out of the idea that Trump believes Dean, who was convicted of obstruction of justice and disbarred, might be the “villain” in this story. He was surely one of them.

Dean is a useful guest for a media that hasn’t been able to stop making insipid Watergate comparisons since Watergate itself. For Democrats, and only Democrats, Dean also serves much the same purpose he did in government. A consummate yes man.

It was in 1987 that Dean argued that Ronald Reagan’s Iran-contra scandal was worse than Watergate. Much much worse, in fact. “The Iran-contra inquiries involve matters of national security,” Dean explained at the time. “Watergate, on the other hand, involved the political security of Richard Nixon. These are Major League matters versus Little League.”

It was 2005, when Democrats were toying around with the idea of impeaching George W. Bush, that then-Sen. Barbara Boxer sent a letter presidential scholars, asking them about comments “by Richard Nixon’s lawyer John Dean that Bush is ‘the first president to admit to an impeachable offense.’”

Dean’s quote was heavily leaned on at time. Hey, if the “star” witness of Watergate says impeachment is on the table, aren’t we compelled to listen? Dean, in fact, had written an entire book—“Worse than Watergate”—making the case that both Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should be impeached for lying to Congress…………

Mueller’s Probe Is Under Internal Pressures

RED STATE does a BANG-UP job in the following list:

A comparison of the carnage at the very highest levels of the FBI and the DOJ to the complete lack of evidence of wrongdoing by President Trump following over two years of investigations should tell Robert Mueller that it’s time to extricate himself, as gracefully as possible, from this fraud. He needs to admit defeat in his attempt to undo the results of a fair election.

Seamus Bruner of The Epoch Times has just put together a list of 25 DOJ and FBI officials who have resigned in the last year. Some of them, Rachel Brand for example, have left to take positions in the private sector. Mike Kortan has said he was planning to retire anyway. But many on this list have been fired, or forced out (largely in disgrace) or demoted, because of the Trump/Russia investigation.

FBI Departures:

  1. James Comey, director (fired)
  2. Andrew McCabe, deputy director (fired)
  3. Peter Strzok, counterintelligence expert (fired)
  4. Lisa Page, attorney (demoted; resigned)
  5. James Rybicki, chief of staff (resigned)
  6. James Baker, general counsel (resigned)
  7. Mike Kortan, assistant director for public affairs (resigned)
  8. Josh Campbell, special assistant to James Comey (resigned)
  9. James Turgal, executive assistant director (resigned)
  10. Greg Bower, assistant director for office of congressional affairs (resigned)
  11. Michael Steinbach, executive assistant director (resigned)
  12. John Giacalone, executive assistant director (resigned)

DOJ Departures:

  1. Sally Yates, deputy attorney general (fired)
  2. Bruce Ohr, associate deputy attorney general (twice demoted)
  3. David Laufman, counterintelligence chief (resigned)
  4. Rachel Brand, deputy attorney general (resigned)
  5. Trisha Beth Anderson, office of legal counsel for FBI (demoted or reassigned*)
  6. John P. Carlin, assistant attorney general (resigned)
  7. Peter Kadzik, assistant attorney general, congressional liaison (resigned)
  8. Mary McCord, acting assistant attorney general (resigned)
  9. Matthew Axelrod, principal assistant to deputy attorney general (resigned)
  10. Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney, SDNY (firedalong with 45 otherS. Attorneys)
  11. Sharon McGowan, civil rights division (resigned)
  12. Diana Flynn, litigation director for LGBTQ civil rights (resigned)
  13. Vanita Gupta, civil rights division (resigned)
  14. Joel McElvain, assistant branch director of the civil division (resigned)

*Status Unclear

As I look at this list, I know it includes only a fraction of those who have risked their careers and their reputations because they simply couldn’t bear to see Donald Trump in the White House.

Before this is over, others will be added to the list. Perhaps even Rod Rosenstein. And there will likely be former top-level Obama officials caught in the net as well. Perjurers John Brennan and James Clapper come to mind.

In addition to the men and women who have been working against Trump in the DOJ and the FBI, there were/are employees in the State Department and the CIA, holdovers from the Obama administration, who are complicit.

The mainstream media has played a huge role in perpetuating this hoax. They have breathlessly distorted events to influence public opinion. Instead of reporting the news, they have worked overtime to shape it.

For an example of how the mainstream media has aided and abetted the left’s attempt to impeach Trump, we need to look no further than their outrage over the revocation of John Brennan’s security clearance….

Even contention in the ranks of the upper echelon of SPOOKS is starting to maske it’s way to the public as people “cover their asses”

THE HILL notes about the above:

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Sunday that he thinks former CIA Director John Brennan‘s rhetoric is becoming an issue “in and of itself.”

“John and his rhetoric have become an issue in and of itself,” Clapper said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “John is subtle like a freight train and he’s gonna say what’s on his mind.”

Clapper’s comments came in response to an op-ed penned by Brennan in The New York Times this week, in which he wrote that President Trumpcolluded with Russia during the 2016 election.

Clapper said he empathized with Brennan, but voiced concerns for Brennan’s fiery rhetoric toward Trump and his administration.

“I think that the common denominator among all of us [in the intelligence community] that have been speaking up … is genuine concern about the jeopardy and threats to our institutions,” Clapper said.

Brennan’s claims drew criticism from some in the intelligence community who said the timing was suspect.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) on Thursday took aim at Brennan for “purport[ing] to know, as fact, that the Trump campaign colluded with a foreign power.”

“If his statement is based on intelligence he has seen since leaving office, it constitutes an intelligence breach. If he has some other personal knowledge of or evidence of collusion, it should be disclosed to the special counsel, not The New York Times,” Burr said……..

REMEMBER, Brennan has a shoddy intelligence past and had his clearance removed due to it — among other things. See my previous post entitled: Brennan Leaked Top Secret Info That Blew A US Operation