CNN's Jake Tapper explains exactly why Trump just threatened Obama-era intelligence officials

On Monday, CNN's Jake Tapper slammed President Donald Trump's threat to revoke security clearances.

"The president of the United States this afternoon threatening retaliation against officials from both the Obama and Bush administrations. Why? For criticizing him," Tapper said at the opening of his show.

Tapper said there needs to be evidence of abuse to revoke security clearances and cited former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's attacks on Hillary Clinton.

"Experts say that until this afternoon, there's always had to be serious grounds for revoking security clearances and criticism was not on the grounds. After all, remember, former director of the defense intelligence agency, retired general Flynn leads the charge to lock up Hillary Clinton during the 2016 republican convention?" Tapper said.

He continued: "You will note president Obama did not revoke general Flynn's security clearance. Now, traditionally, there has to be evidence of abuse for that to be revoked. The White House cited no evidence of abuse by the former officials. They have said what [White House press secretary] Sarah Huckabee Sanders called today 'monetizing and politicizing' the public service. Sanders went on to criticize those former officials for 'making baseless accusations of an improper relationship with Russia.'"

Watch below.