Eli Lake: Brennan Needs to ‘Put up or Shut up’ if He’s Going to Spread McCarthyist Innuendo on Trump

EXCERPT:

LAKE: “No. Let’s not forget John Brennan had to explain in earlier media appearances when he said the Russians have something on him. When he says that as a former CIA director the assumption from viewers of television programs like this and other journalists is that he knows something. Anyway, my point here is that very well may be true, but he really does have an obligation to put up or shut up and he has really gone much further out on a limb than other former officials. You don’t hear Mike Hayden and other former officials going quite as far as John Brennan has calling him at one point a traitor and things like that. He has every right to criticize the President but when he implies he has information the rest of us can’t see, that’s not good for democracy, either. I'm not trying to in any way justify what Trump did, it was petty, it was vindictive. I think, in many ways, it was kind of abuse of power, and it is sadly typical of this White House. But I think you have to look at the fact that John Brennan has engaged in a kind of an innuendo that really is a hallmark of the era of McCarthyism, and we should be aware of that as well.”

(Mediaite)