Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has stripped the security clearance of 37 former or current intelligence professionals.
“Being entrusted with a security clearance is a privilege, not a right,” Gabbard wrote in the announcement Tuesday on X.
The 37 men and women whose clearance is being revoked “have abused the public trust by politicizing and manipulating intelligence, leaking classified intelligence without authorization, and/or committing intentional egregious violations of tradecraft standards,” according to Gabbard.
Among those losing their security clearance are individuals who worked under former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper who helped with the 2017 intelligence report that concluded Russia had sought to help President Donald Trump win the 2016 election.
Gabbard has released a trove of documents in recent weeks showing that the intelligence assessment used as the foundation of the claims of Russian involvement lacked credibility.
In July, Gabbard announced the declassification of a House Intelligence Committee report “that exposes how the Obama administration manufactured the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment that they knew was false, promoting the LIE that Vladimir Putin and the Russian government helped President Trump win the 2016 election.”
The document details intelligence findings that Russia had very little to no influence over the results of the 2016 presidential election.
Shortly thereafter, Gabbard announced she had asked the Department of Justice and the FBI to “investigate the criminal implications” of new evidence around the matter, dubbed “Russiagate,” including referring former President Barack Obama for investigation.
Just last week, news broke that a Democrat whistleblower reportedly warned the FBI starting in 2017 that then-Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., approved the leak of classified information for the purpose of smearing Trump with now-debunked Russiagate claims.
“Those in the Intelligence Community who betray their oath to the Constitution and put their own interests ahead of the interests of the American people have broken the sacred trust they promised to uphold,” Gabbard said on Tuesday. “In doing so, they undermine our national security, the safety and security of the American people, and the foundational principles of our democratic republic.”