President Donald Trump followed through on his previous threat and revoked the security clearance of former Director of National Intelligence, John Brennan, Barack Obama’s lead hatchet man in the fake Russian collusion kerfuffle.

Don’t forget what Sen. Rand Paul noted last month, too: “You have to realize John Brennan started his illustrious career by voting for the Communist Party.” After Brennan accused Trump of treason, Paul also called Brennan “the most biased, bigoted, over-the-top, hyperbolic sort of unhinged director of the CIA we’ve ever had.” He was right.

In a statement on the decision, Trump said:

Mr. Brennan has recently leveraged his status as a former high-ranking official with access to highly sensitive information to make a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations … about this Administration. Mr. Brennan’s lying and recent conduct … is wholly inconsistent with access to the Nation’s most closely held secrets and facilitates the very aim of our adversaries, which is to sow division and chaos.

More broadly, the issue of Mr. Brennan’s security clearance raises larger questions about the practice of former officials maintaining access to our Nation’s most sensitive secrets long after their time in Government has ended. Such access is particularly inappropriate when former officials have transitioned into highly partisan positions and seek to use real or perceived access to sensitive information to validate their political attacks…

For this reason, I have also begun to review the more general question of the access to classified information by former Government officials.“

That list includes James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Susan Rice, and James Clapper.

Brennan’s response declared his martyrdom: "My principles are worth far more than clearances. I will not relent.” We’re guessing he’s angling for a book deal worth far more than either his clearances or his “principles.”

An arch adversary of Trump and Paul, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) predictably condemned the revocation, saying, “It just feels like a banana republic kind of step. I don’t like it at all. It feels really vindictive.”

In a more disconcerting condemnation, retired Admiral William McRaven published a brief WaPo rebuke of Trump asserting, “Brennan … is one of the finest public servants I have ever known. Few Americans have done more to protect this country than John. He is a man of unparalleled integrity, whose honesty and character have never been in question, except by those who don’t know him.” McRaven, a classmate of Brennan at UT Austin, apparently missed Brennan’s litany of deranged diatribes about Trump in his post-CIA job as a Leftmedia commentator.

However, some of Brennan’s closest allies have also been critical of his caustic remarks.

Brennan’s superior, James Clapper, Obama’s Director of National Intelligence, who also lied to Congress, lamented, “John and his rhetoric have become, I think, an issue in and of itself.” And Obama’s Joint Chiefs chairman, Admiral Mike Mullen, noted, “I think [Brennan] has been incredibly critical of the president, and I think that has put him in a political place which actually does more damage for the intelligence community – which is apolitical.”

For the record, regarding the revocation of security clearances, Mark Alexander has noted, “There are about 5,000 people who hold high-level security clearances, most of whom are former government employees who have monetized their clearances for very high paying private sector jobs. Each of those clearances cost taxpayers tens-of-thousands of dollars to certify. I believe that all high-level security clearances should be suspended after those holding them leave government service, unless they petition and demonstrate a reason to maintain their clearance.”

(Updated.)