Last Updated Aug 17, 2018 11:57 AM EDT
President Trump said he expects to “quickly” revoke the security clearance for the Justice Department official whose wife worked for the firm involved in producing the dossier on Trump’s ties to Russia.
Mr. Trump, speaking to reporters on the White House South Lawn, said the official, Bruce Ohr, is a “disgrace.”
Asked about Ohr’s security clearance, Mr. Trump said: “I suspect I’ll be taking it away very quickly. For him to be in the Justice Department and doing what he did, that is a disgrace.”
Ohr has come under Republican scrutiny for his contacts to Glenn Simpson, co-founder of Fusion GPS. The opposition research firm hired former British spy Christopher Steele during the 2016 presidential campaign to compile the dossier.
Ohr’s wife, Nellie, worked for Fusion GPS during the campaign — something Mr. Trump has tweeted about to highlight his assertions of political bias behind the Russia investigation.
Earlier this week, press secretary Sarah Sanders was asked during a press briefing why Ohr isn’t simply fired, rather than rendered unable to do much of his job if he loses his clearance.
Sanders responded, “Once again, I don’t have any personnel announcements on that front. I can just tell you we’re looking into that specific matter.”
The president’s comments on Ohr comes after he revoked the clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan. Brennan has been consistently critical of Mr. Trump, although the White House insists that isn’t why his clearance was revoked.
Brennan fired back in an editorial in the Washington Post.
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
