James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence, has hit back at former CIA chief John Brennan, who accused President Donald Trump of colluding with Russia during the 2016 presidential vote.
"John and his rhetoric have become an issue in and of itself," Clapper told CNN. "John is sort of like a freight train and he's gonna say what's on his mind."
The statement came after the former CIA director called DonaldTrump's denials of collusion with Russia during the 2016 election "hogwash" in an op-ed piece for The New York Times on Thursday.
READ MORE: Ex-CIA Director Brennan Calls Trump's Denial of Collision With Russia 'Hogwash'
Brennan also claimed that Trump's decision to revoke his security clearance a day earlier was a politically motivated step used to end Special Counsel Mueller's probe into the so-called "Russian meddling."
On Wednesday, POTUS stripped Brennan of his security clearance, saying that the former CIA boss was using his status to make unfounded and outrageous allegations against the president and his administration, adding, "Any benefits that senior officials glean from consultations with Mr. Brennan are now outweighed by the risks posed by his erratic conduct and behavior."
The latest Trump-Brennan spat unfolded a month after the ex-CIA director blasted Trump's performance during the Helsinki press conference with Russian President Putin as "treasonous." At the time, he claimed that Trump lacked credibility and called for his resignation.
This back-and-forth war of words comes during an ongoing FBI investigation into alleged collusion between Trump's campaign and the Kremlin during the 2016 US presidential election. Russia has been accused of trying to sway the vote in Republican candidate Donald Trump's favor and hacking Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton's emails. Moscow has repeatedly denied allegations of interfering in the election, and both Trump and the Kremlin have firmly rejected all accusations of collusion.