Karl Rove: Trump-World Chatter That Brennan is the Man Behind the Russia Probe is a ‘Conspiracy Theory’

Former White House chief of staff Karl Rove is calling out the “conspiracy theory” about why President Donald Trump pulled John Brennan‘s security clearance.

Trump took questions from the White House lawn on Friday, aand grumbled about the Russia “witch hunt” while insisting that he actually amplified the voice of former CIA director Brennan by revoking his clearance. This comes days after Trump told reporters that he blames Brennan and his other enemies in the intelligence community for Robert Mueller‘s investigation.

Bill Hemmer asked Rove about this, and the former George W. Bush-adviser panned Trump for making a “sideshow” out of his effort to punish his critics, saying it “might have been the right action for the wrong reason.” Rove said Brennan has been “over-the-top” and “irresponsible” with his criticisms against the president — though he wasn’t sure how advantageous it would be for Trump to paint Brennan as the newest member of “the resistance.”

Eventually, Hemmer brought up the Trump-world talking point that Brennan was responsible for the secret investigations into the Trump campaign in 2016. Rove called this a “conspiracy theory,” saying there’s no definitive connection between Brennan and Peter Strzok or Bruce Ohr.

“If Brennan is to be faulted for anything, I don’t think it is engendering a conspiracy against Trump, but failing as a major intelligence official to advocate a tough, firm, active policy against Russian measures to meddle with our elections,” Rove said. “The Obama Administration depended on stern words from President Obama to Vladimir Putin to keep this from happening, and it didn’t work.”

Watch above, via Fox News.

[Image via screengrab]

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