Trump suggests critics can retain security clearances by being 'nice' to him

President Donald Trump again threatened to use his executive power to punish his critics.

The president on Tuesday morning lashed out at former director of national intelligence James Clapper, and suggested his critics could avoid his wrath by being "nice" to him.

"Even James Clapper has admonished John Brennan for having gone totally off the rails," Trump tweeted. "Maybe Clapper is being nice to me so he doesn’t lose his Security Clearance for lying to Congress!"

Trump revoked Brennan's security clearance last month, after the former CIA director accused him of treasonous behavior at a summit in Helsinki with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The White House announced the move last week, as former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault-Newman released damaging recordings from her time working for Trump.

Trump then denied reports that White House aides urged him to revoke security clearance for former president Barack Obama early in his administration.

"Fake News, of which there is soooo much (this time the very tired New Yorker) falsely reported that I was going to take the extraordinary step of denying Intelligence Briefings to President Obama," he tweeted. "Never discussed or thought of!"