political figures i'm a valuating action with respect to the following individuals james clapper james comey michael hayden sally ates susan rice and german cave peter sure lisa page and bruce or security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked the most important things that have happened in u.s. politics in recent years is there's been a realisation that everything is political in other words that the federal bureau of investigation the cia the n.s.a. all of these u.s. agency is not about politics it's very apparent when you have figures like brennan and komi intervening in the public debate that these organizations and individual. operate with very considerable politics they are clearly very honored to be trump has been all along when they were in office and continue to be now and i think that's very problematic for the united states because what it means is that. these these institutions that were once seen as being the ferret are just this is a little while being questioned i think it's a good thing that they're being questioned because they haven't been fair and just but it's also very disru

political figures i'm evaluating action with respect to the following individuals james clapper james comey michael hayden sally aids susan rice and german cave peter sure lisa page and bruce or security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked the most important things that have happened in u.s. politics in recent years is there's been a realisation that everything is political in other words that the federal bureau of investigation the cia the n.s.a. all of these u.s. agencies are not about politics it's very apparent when you have figures like brennan and komi intervening in the public debate that these organizations and individuals operate with very considerable politics they are clearly very trump has been. along were when they were in office and continue to be now and i think that's very problematic for the united states because what it means is that. these these institutions that were once seen as being the ferret just arbiters of the law being questioned i think it's a good thing that they're being questioned because they haven't been fair and just but it's also very disruptive to the ame

political figures i'm a valuating action with respect to the following individuals james clapper james comey michael hayden sally ates susan rice and german cave peter struck lisa page and bruce or security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked the most important things that have happened in u.s. politics in recent years is there's been a realisation that everything is political in other words that the federal bureau of investigation the cia the n.s.a. all of these u.s. agency is not about politics it's very apparent when you have figures like broadening komi intervening in the public debate that these organizations and individuals. with very considerable politics they are clearly very empty trond has been all along when they were in office and continue to be now and i think that's very problematic for the united states because what it means is that. these these institutions that were once seen as being the terra just because it's a little being questioned i think it's a good thing that they're being questioned because they haven't been there and just but it's also very disruptive to the americ

political figures i'm a valuating action with respect to the following individuals james clapper james comey michael hayden sally aides susan rice and german cave peter struck lisa page and bruce or security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked the most important things that have happened in u.s. politics in recent years is there's been a realisation that everything is political in other words that the federal bureau of investigation the cia the n.s.a. all of these u.s. agents is not about politics it's very apparent when you have figures like brennan and komi intervening in the public to create these organizations and individuals operate with very considerable politics they are clearly very i'm the trump has been. along when they were in office and continue to be now i think that's very problematic for the united states because what it means is that . these these institutions that were once seen as being the terra just because it's a little being questioned i think it's a good thing that they're being questioned because they haven't been fair and just but it's also very disruptive to the amer

james clapper, james comey, michael hayden, sally yates, susan rice, andrew mccabe, peter strzok, lisae, and bruce orr. security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked. those who have lost their security clearance may not be able to have to reinstated. i have exercised my constitutional authority to deny mr. brennan access to classified information and i will direct appropriate staff of the national security council to make the necessary arrangements with the appropriate agencies to implement this determination. with that i'll take your questions. jonathan. >> reporter: sarah, i have a question. i wanted to ask, to follow up on that it seems like everybody that you mentioned has been a political critic of the president. is he going after his political opponents with this? >> no. if there were others that weren't, that we deemed necessary, we would look and review those as well. >> reporter: i want to ask you about something that the president's tee president's attorney said. rudy giuliani said of special counsel robert mueller, needs to write the damn report so we can

sarah: i'm evaluating action with respect to the foowing individuals -- james clapper, james comey, michael hayden, sally yates, susan rice, andrewa , peter strzok, lisa page. security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked, and those who have already lost the security clearance may not be able to have it reinstated. rajini: now if those names sound familiar, is because they ossed swords with mr. trump over a variety of issues and have drawn his scorn online. for more on all that, i spoke a brietime ago with shelby holiday, a video reporter at "the wall street journal." shelby holiday, great to have you with us. we saw sarahanders saying that the president is revoking the security clearance of one official and is thatening to do it with a number of others now. why now? now the well, we do official whose security clearance he was been very critical of the president. it might have to do with timing. the president obviously does not like any sort of criticism in the press, whether it is on social media, television. that is one thing. but he also in revoking the g clearance cited someth do w

are you waiting action with respect to the following individuals james clapper james comey michael hayden sally ates susan rice and german cave peter shrugged lisa page and bruce or security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked it is for the foregoing reasons that i have exercised my constitutional authority to deny mr brennan access to classified information sara sander spoke to press and she said that the decision to revoke brennan's clearance was based on his erratic conduct and behavior defending the move as an effort to secure classified info from someone who has helped foment division in the past and clearly has very partisan leanings and john brennan himself has already chimed in blasting the move as part of a bid to suppress free speech and punish critics but for some context john brennan left his position as director of the cia back in january twenty seventeen and he now serves as m s n b c's senior national security and intelligence analyst but this whole debacle began last month when senator rand paul called brennan's motives into question asking if he had been pro

political figures i am a valuating action with respect to the following individuals james clapper james comey michael hayden sally ates susan rice and german cave peter struck lisa page and bruce or security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked the president is doing the right thing rebooking the clearances of people who aren't contributing anything certainly a lot of them were higher ups in the f.b.i. and also it is. certainly i mean i believe these people are all involved in this rush to get to every case you know a bit and manipulating information and data for the public consumption to confuse and. you know create all kinds of uncertainty in the government the government business that's that's what the that's why they should never have a clearance you know all washington has a tradition of allowing former presidents and senior intelligence officials to still get the morning intel briefings each and every day even when they were tired but now in the unprecedented way of cutting off britain's top level security access says this is not political he would have done the same to any republican he

political figures i'm a valuating action with respect to the following individuals james clapper james comey michael hayden sally ates susan rice and german cave peter struck lisa page and bruce or security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked the most important things that have happened in u.s. politics in recent years is there's been a realisation that everything is political in other words that the federal bureau of investigation the cia the n.s.a. all of these u.s. agencies are not about politics it's very apparent when you have figures like brennan and komi intervening in the public to critique these organizations in and of it. joel's operate with very considerable politics they are clearly very anti trump out in all along were when they were in office and continue to be now and i think that's very problematic for the united states because what it means is that. these these institutions that were once seen as being the parent are just partizan of the law being questioned i think it's a good thing that they're being questioned because they haven't been fair and just but it's also very disr

political figures i am evaluating action with respect to the following individuals james clapper james comey michael hayden sally ates susan rice and german cave peter shura lisa page and bruce or security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked the president is doing the right thing revoking the clearances of people who aren't contributing anything learn lee a lot of them were higher ups in the f.b.i. and also dennis and cia certainly i mean i believe these people are all involved in this rush to get in every case you know of it and then manipulating information and data for the public consumption to confuse and. you know create all kinds of uncertainty in the government the government business that's that's what the that's why they should never have a clearance. the u.s. remains in the grip of a wave of protests as both far right and left wing groups are rallying to denounce each other off to some of the demos turned violent c.n.n. presented chris cuomo made a controversial claim that violence coming from the anti for movement in the us is more morally justified than violence which comes from t

james clapper james comey michael hayden sally ates susan rice and german cave peter sure lisa page and bruce or security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked it is for the foregoing reasons that i have exercised my constitutional authority to deny mr brennan access to classified information sara sander spoke to press and she said that the decision to revoke brennan's clearance was based on his erratic conduct and behavior defending the move as an effort to secure classified info from someone who has helped foment division in the past and clearly has very partisan leanings and john brennan himself has already chimed in blasting the move as part of a bid to suppress free speech and punish critics but for some context john brennan left his position as director of the cia back in january twenty seventeen and he now serves as m s n b c's senior national security and intelligence analyst but this whole debacle began last month when senator rand paul called brennan's motives into question asking if he had been profiting off of his clearance by divulging secrets to the mainstream media his exact words he even met with trump asking him to revoke the clearances of not only brennan but a few other prominent political figures now after that sarah huckabee sanders read out a list of names of who else was and can disagree and included former f.b.i. director james comey a former director of national intelligence james clapper and a few others for apparently spreading rumors about russian collusion now trump also tweeted some indirect references to it later on but today sarah huckabee sanders elaborated on that a bit saying that the administration could also revoke other acts officials including james comey as peter struck who has just fired from the f.b.i. recently so immediate reaction so far have been pretty predictable so we'll just have to see. if that affects trump's future decisions now as some of those names sound familiar is because they've crossed swords with mr trump over a variety of issues and have often drawn his scorn online this is an extraordinary move the white house saying that this had to do with security issues but this is really one of vengeance william binney a former u.s. national security agency technical director and whistleblower thinks the media supporting brennan has lost credibility. they shut down anybody who has a

james clapper. james comey. michael hayden. sally yates. susan rice. andrew mccabe. peter strzok, lisa page, and bruce orr. >> reporter: the president told "the wall street journal" i don't trust many of those people on that list. i think that they're very due police us to. i think that they're not good people. >> those people are being singled out smacks of nixon-ian types of practices. trying to silence anyone who is willing to criticize this president. >> reporter: in the same interview, the president seemed to draw a direct connection between his decision and the russia investigation. saying brennan is one of those he holds responsible for the probe. he says his move was something that had to be done. kendis and maggie? >> it changes the narrative of what was happening in the last week. thank you. >>> the president in the meantime is slamming governor andrew cuomo after the governor took a jab at the trump campaign slogan saying america was never that great. his comments came days after president trump told an upstate new york crowd that cuomo once told him quote

political figures i'm evaluating action with respect to the following individuals james clapper james comey michael hayden sally ates susan rice and german cave peter shrugged lisa page and bruce or security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked the president is doing the right thing rebooking to clearances of people who aren't contributing anything nearly a lot of them were higher ups in the f.b.i. and also it is. certainly. i mean i believe these people are all involved in this russia gate and fabrication of it and manipulating information and data for the public consumption to confuse and. you know create all kinds of uncertainty in the government the government business that's that's what they that's why they should never had a clearance. to russian cosmonauts have conducted one of the longest of us space walks right outside the international space station and both were equipped with cameras to share the view with you. throughout thank you our thanks to our viewers before the hour right here in new york the long time for a little bit back every. year the laughter of the few people that you

political figures i'm evaluating action with respect to the following individuals james clapper james comey michael hayden sally ates susan rice and german cave peter struck lisa page and bruce or security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked the president is doing the right thing rebooking the clearances of people who aren't contributing anything learn lee a lot of them were higher ups in the f.b.i. and also dennis and cia certainly i mean i believe these people are all go of this rush to get in every case you know of it in their manipulating information and data for the public consumption to confuse and. you know create all kinds of good. uncertainty in the government the government business that's what they that's why they should never have a clearance well i mean while i washington has a tradition of allowing officials to retain their security clearance even when they leave office and retire some x. officials also say that clearance helps them in their future career yes. the u.s. remains in the grip of a wave of protests as both right and left wing groups rallied today about each other af

james clapper, james comey, michael hayden, sally yates, susan rice, andrew mccabe, peter strzok, lisa page, and bruce ohr. security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked and those who have already lost their security clearance may not be able to have it reinstated. sarah sanders there. for more on this i've been speaking to our north america correspondent peter bowes. there has been, in some quarters, a very angry response to this. john kerry, for example, the former secretary of state in the last administration said mr trump was behaving like the ruler of a banana republic. mr brennan himself sending out a tweet very quickly after hearing this news with his own views, suggesting that donald trump is trying to stifle free speech. he says the move was part of president trump's broader efforts to suppress freedom of speech and punish critics. it goes on, he says "it should gravely worry all americans, including intelligence professionals about the cost of speaking out. "my principles," he says, "are worth far more than clearances." i will not relent." it is true that he has been strong critic of the president, describing him as treasonous after his meeting with president putin. as we have heard, there are other names on the list. this may not be the end. james has described the president as "morally unfit to lead." he is one of the president's harshest critics, a former director of the fbi, he could potentially lose his clearance as well. others are suggesting that this could all be about the president's attempt to change the national conversation, or at least change the conversation on cable news in the states which has been dominated in recent months by the russia investigation and over the next couple of days will probably have the conclusion of the trial of paul manafort, donald trump's former campaign manager, who is facing financial fraud charges, not directly linked to the trump campaign but he worked with him during that period in 2016 and that verdict could create more negative headlines for the president by the end of the week. the judge in the trial of two women charged with killing the half—brother of north korea's leader, is expected to rule on thursday whether to proceed with the case against them. indonesian national siti ais

james clapper james comey michael hayden sally ates susan rice and german cave peter sure lisa page and bruce or security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked it is for the foregoing reasons that i've exercised my constitutional authority to deny mr brennan access to classified information. ok let's get more details now from smearing counties following events for us in the u.s. and smear a good evening just run through them what prompted this move by the trumpet ministration. well sarah huckabee sanders spoke to the press and she explained his decision to revoke brought in security clearance as based on his quote erratic conduct and behavior defending the move as an effort to secure classified info from someone who has helped his vision in the past and clearly has very partisan leanings now john brennan himself chimed in a chimed in and he blasted the move as part of a bid to suppress free speech and punish critics but for some context john brennan left his position as director of the cia back in january twenty seventeen and he now serves as m.s.n. b c's senior national security and intelligence analyst but this whole debacle began last month when senator rand paul called brahmins motives into question asking if he'd been profiting off his clearance by divulging secrets to the mainstream media his exact words and rand paul even met with trump asking him to revoke the clearances of not only brennan but a few other a prominent political figures but after that sarah sanders read out a list of names of who else was in consideration and it even included a former f.b.i. director james comey and former director of national intelligence james clapper and a few others for apparently spreading rumors about russian collusion trouble also tweeted some in direct references to it later on but today sarah huckabee sanders elaborated on that a bit saying that the administration could also revoke clearances of other ex officials including james komi and peter struck from the f.b.i. recently so the f.b.i. recently so what does have to see what happens and wait for the media reaction that will inevitably follow sure ok thanks to me that was american force that in washington. police in the u.k. say the man detained after tuesday's westminster car running incident is being held on suspicion of attempted before making an act of terror he has been identified as a british citizen the sudanese origin with more details to his. we do know that the press here are saying that this is a man who is twenty nine years old he is being named as sally kadir british citizen of sudanese origin it

. >> james clapper, james comey, michael hayden, sally yates, susan rice, andrew mccabe, peter strzok, lisa page and bruce orr. >> reporter: it seems like everybody you mentioned has been a political critic of the president. is he going after his political opponents with this? >> no, if there were others that weren't, that we deemed necessary, we would certainly take a look and review those, as well. >> all right, so, let's get to jonathan karl at the white house tonight. john brennan wasn't the only name mentioned, you just had that list there provided by sarah sanders. i want to show viewers at home, here are some of the faces. one thing they have in common, as you pointed out there, jon, have been critical of decisions made by the president. so, bottom line, just how unusual is it for the president to revoke the security clearance of a former cia director and warn so many others? >> reporter: well, david, there's no doubt he has the power to do this, but i cannot find another example of a president personally intervening to strip a former official of his security clearance, let alo

political figures i'm a valuating action with respect to the following individuals james clapper james comey michael hayden sally ates susan rice and german cave peter struck lisa page and bruce or security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked the most important things that have happened in u.s. politics in recent years is there's been a realisation that everything is political in other words that the federal bureau of investigation the cia the n.s.a. all of these u.s. agencies are not about politics it's very apparent when you have figures like brennan and komi intervening in the public to come to. these organizations and individuals with jerry considerable politics they are clearly very i'm trying to the how can we. a lot when they have it also this and continue to be no i think that's a great problem i say for the united states because what it means is that. these these institutions that were once seen as beings is a ferret are just that is it's a little being questioned i think it's a good thing that they're being questioned because they haven't been severing just but it's a very disruptiv

james clapper, james comey, michael hayden, sally yates, andrew mccabe, peter strzok, lisa page, bruce ohr. you know those names. as relates to brennan, the argument in part from the white house as relayed by sarah sanders earlier today was that brennan is essentially trying to leverage his criticisms against the president in a way that should not be leveraged. here's sarah sanders a little while ago. >> mr. brennan has leveraged his status as a former high-ranking official with access to highly sensitive information to make a series of unfounded allegations, wild outbursts on the internet and television about this administration. mr. brennan's lying an conduct characterized by his commentary is wholly inconsistent with the nation's close secrets. more broadly, the issue of mr. brennan's security clearance raises larger questions about the practice of former officials maintaining access to our nation's most sensitive secrets long after their time in government has ended. >> sarah sanders was also asked in a bunch of ways whether or not this sets a bad precedent as many of the people who are named in all of this have either come out and spoken out against the president, president trump, in harsh terms or wrapped into the russia investigation that the president clearly does not like. she tied it back to brennan in this one instance saying this is a matter of national security. as it relates to one person on the list, bruce ohr, keep in mind as a colleague asked, he's still a member of the department of justice. he's still a federal employee of the united states of america. the question is if you revoke his security clearance, that essentially renders him meaningless in the doj, a position of that height. sanders was asked why doesn't bruce ohr just -- why doesn't the president just fire him? she responded with the standard line, there's no personnel announcements. >> shepard: there's been a response on the precedent level from don baer. he's a democrat from virginia. he said this is a flimsy excuse to set a terrible president. he tweets, trump is clearly punishing john brennan for criticizing him, cracking down on a dissent and retaliating against a private citizen's free speech. the president has adopted a weak, paranoid authoritarian behavior of a dictator. have others yet come forward? this is the only one we can find thus far. >> yeah, it's still fresh. we just got out of the room. i'll go back to one of the questions also posed by my colleagues in there, in the briefing a little while ago. what about michael flynn? right? he was the president's former national security adviser that was fired by this administration for lying to the vice president who is now wrapped up in the mueller investigation as well. it would seem to be a logical question if you're going down the line of these folks in the past administration, might you want to take a look at the security clearance of michael flynn. bottom line, this opens up the door going forward not just to these seven or eight people that sarah sanders announced earlier today but more questions down the line when you talk about some of the most respected positions in the federal government and what happens to those people once they're out of those positions. >> shepard: you'll remember as some of our viewers will that it was weeks ago, maybe a month, not sure, all breaking, but maybe a month or so ago that paul ryan was asked about this, this idea of revoking security clearances is one that has come up before. paul ryan was asked after it was mentioned about it. he said oh, i think he's just trolling people. now it's actually happened. you wonder what paul ryan's reaction will be now. and then if he begins to revoke the security clearance of others, the list is long, i read it, you went through some of them who have been his critics for a specific reason over time, if we're not beginning something that at least to his critics and to some others looks like it's retaliatory and precedent setting. >> as relates to paul ryan, might take a day or so until the question is posed to him. senators are returning back to capitol hill as we speak for a rare august recess. certainly that question, one would presume, would be posed to them as they trickle in. you know, when we started off this briefing earlier today as you saw the briefing yesterday, it was believed and we never know and my colleague would never know what they're going to ask and as it goes down the line, it was believed a lot of questions would be about omarosa. sarah sanders comes out with this announcement today. just like that, the narrative has seemingly changed. >> shepard: there's been a pattern of that over time and certainly they would have anticipated this would change the narrative. whether this was the -- whether this was the idea or not is another matter. the effect of it has been in the short term to change the narrative. that said as long as omarosa is coming out with tapes and she said there's more, the omarosa story is not going away, especially given the president keeps tweeting about it. >> keeps tweeting about it. here we are in mid august. like i mentioned, half of congress is here. you have the president tweeting about it, this is normally the time of year that some folks like to look for story lines. man, is that a story line. >> shepard: the former director of national intelligence, james clapper said this is unprecedented. much more to come on this as we approach the bottom of the hour and the top of the news. >> i'm lea gabrielle with a fox report and more headlines. 48 people are dead after a suicide bomber attacked a building filled with students. this happened today in afghanistan's capitol of kabul. officials say the suspects targeting students for studying for university entrance exams. investigators are blaming the islamic state. the group has not claimed responsibility. a driver in china apparently mixing up the gas pedal and the break. the s.u.v. smashing through the doors of a car dealership. state media reported the driver was trying to park the car after a test drive. she walked away with minor injuries. and a real-life free willie. navy differs in chile helping a whale getting off of a fishing net. some fishermen spotted the wait and called for help. shep will be right back. >> shepard: we're hearing some of the horrific details of alleged sexual abuse in

james clapper, james comey, michael hayden, sally yates, sycessen rice, andrew mccabe, peter strozk, lisa page and bruce ohr. >> ohr is the only official on the white house list still working for the u.s. government. review by fox news of ohr's justice department e-mails and handwritten notes shows he is deeply connected to the controversial trump dossier. and during the presidential election, the scandal over alleged government surveillance abuse. >> it seems like he is a key player. >> ohr's wife nellie worked for fusion g.p.s. the clinton campaign paid the campaign for the trump dossier formed by christopher steele. after the f.b.i. dropped steele as a source for lying lyg in november 2016, the intelligence committee found steele maintained contact using ohr as a back channel. >> bruce ohr's wife worked for the firm that clinton hired to put together the decemberier. she has given it to ohr and he has given it to the f.b.i. >> in the closed door testimony last year, glenn simpson claimed no contact with ohr until after the presidential election. but ohr work e-mail conflict with t

it wasn't taken against any other people on the list so far, james clapper, james comey, michael hayden, sally yates, lisa page or peter struck, bruce orr. >> any time this happened it would have been a giant snub to the intelligence community. whether it happened july 26. or today. whether we have more enemy lists name have their eligibility to access information revoked. the timing seems coincidental. it seems like right in the middle of this horrible security violation by omarosa. criticism by omarosa, this just happens to come out today from the podium. i'm not a conspiracy theorist, like the president and several membe members of his team. but it seems coincidental don't you think? >> we didn't just fall off the turnip truck, although they think we did. do you think this is a white house in crisis? >> yes, absolutely. >> you have the security violation by hoomarosa. john kelly taking her in there to tell her she's being fired. taking her into the skiff, presumably because he didn't want to be reported. you have a white house ethics official who we just discovered was the one forcing peopl

james clapper, james comey, michael hayden, sally yates, susan rice, andrew mccabe, peter strzok, lisa page and bruce ohr. >> reporter: one name not on the list, former national security adviser mike flynn pleading guilty to lying to the fbi of communications with russian officials yet the president never revoked his clearance. asked why he is not on the list, the white house deflecting today. >> again, certainly, we would look at those if we deemed it necessary and we'll keep you posted if the list is updated. >> reporter: the president's statement on clearances dated july 26th, nearly three weeks ago. but it was just announced today as the white house struggles to defend itself from a crisis of its own making. the fallout of omarosa's tell-all book. the president remaining behind closed doors today as he lashed out at the special counsel on twitter. calling the investigation a rigged russian witch hunt with no credibility. that as his lawyer rudy giuliani argues the facts are up to them. >> eye of the beholder? >> no. facts are not in the eye of the beholder. >> they are. >> now, john brennan responded, jim, saying he believes this is directly tied to the criticism of president trump. he said it won't deter him going forward and he does fear this is sending a message to those who have the security clearances that they ought to hold their tongues. jim? >> one thing they have in common on the list, criticized the president. kaitlan collins at the white house, thank you. let's go in depth now with shim shim shimon. the director of national intelligence, dan coats, i'm told was not consulted on this decision. i'm also told that the cia was in the words of an official with knowledge caught off guard by this decision. has this ever happened before? a president revoking a senior official's security clearance and threatening to do that to others? >> no. not that we know of and seems to be unprecedented appears. by all accounts. you have talked to people. i have talked to people, a national security lawyer who says that there's no reasoning, no cause here. you would need cause to revoke someone's security clearance and to take such a step, right, you have to show did the person leak classified information? is the person under some kind of investigation, criminal or perhaps an internal investigation. we have nothing, nothing to suggest any of this certainly by the former cia director. so it is unprecedented, for the white house to meddle in this, to go ahead and make decisions for the sponsoring agency and here probably was the cia, to circumvent the cia, to go ahead and do this on their own and from the podium. right? nonetheless, before the american public, before the people there who watch these beliriefings. >> josh, let's talk about the timing of this. not only when the white house is within something of a controversy with the former aide omarosa but also exactly one day after john brennan the former director of the cia criticized president trump in a tweet. i'm going to read it now. he said the following. it is astounding how often you fail to live up to a minimum standards of decency, civility and probative. addressing the president. seems like you'll never understand what it means to be president. nor what it takes to be a good, decent and honest person. so disheartening and dangerous for our nation. is ate stretch to imagine, josh campbell, that this was political punishment for criticism like that? i think that definitely factors into play here. there's three issues happening at the same time. there's an issue of distraction. now you think about the major issues taking place right now. the paul manafort trial. the president's former campaign aide. the omarosa revelations. talking a last couple of days about the president's been accused of uttering and this is all an attempt to distract. i'm convinced there's running list inside the white house of topics that they can pull from to try to distract. the second issue is the tweet you mentioned. i think it's an issue of impulse. this is a president who gets some type of release by going after his enemies. i'm sure he saw the tweet and angry by striking back and payback for brennan for that and then the last issue i think if you look at the collection of these officials that have been targeted it is the idea that this is another instance of trying to discredit the ongoing investigation into russian interference because many of the people had a role in the investigation or in calling out that russian interference and now tieing in this specifically bruce ohr, justice department official and i don't think criticized the president and involved up in that orbit just kind of shows what it's all about here. i think that at the end of the day the motives here are sinister, selfish and serious implications for u.s. national security. >> one of the things they disagreed with the president on is the assessment of the intelligence community that russia interfered in the election. clapper, brennan and others. that's just one of many points of contention. we did the math on the long list of people targeted now. nearly 300 years of experience in government. some 268 years of national security experience. you look at james clapper there, 47 years going back to the vietnam war. michael hayden, nearly 40 years. brennan in the cia for 25 years. is this consequential for the intelligence community, for them, to lose this eligibility for access? >> well, certainly it is because, jim, when you think about it, what if the current cia director wants to call john brennan saying, hey, you were dealing with an issue while you were cia director and i need to talk to you about this. it's a classified matter. secret matter. he now cannot talk to her about that matter. and the case of the former dni director james clapper, he said on our air around 3:00 that he has talked to former white house officials. this now does not essentially allow these people in the case of the former cia director john brennan to have the classified secret conversations with current officials. they may want to bring him in for expertise on any number of issues and that's where the consequence could be in terms of a national security level, c

james clapper. james comey. michael hayden. sally yates. susan rice. andrew mccabe. peter strok. lisa page. bruce orr. >> what do those people have in common? all of them have been targets of trump's public ire, or they've criticized trump, or both. not on the list? fired national security adviser michael flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about his conversations with ambassador kislyak. and take another page out of a dictator's playbook. president trump seems to be trying here to manipulate the news cycle. what say you? take a look at his statements as sent out today. clearly dated july 26th, 2018. that's three days after the white house first said the president was considering the move. so why would they sit on this for nearly three weeks? and why release it today? well, the white house aide claims it's nothing but a cut and paste error. would versus wouldn't. a cut and paste error. the president tells "the wall street journal" he was prepared to do it last week but it was in his words, it was too hectic. he was on vacation last week. but you've got to wonder about the timing here. there are a couple of possibilities here. one is this could be just a case of a thin-skinned president lashing out one day after brennan tweeted, it's astounding how often you fail to live up to minimum standards of decency, civility, and probity. seems like you will never understand what it means to be president, nor what it takes to be a good, decent, and honest person. so disheartening, so dangerous for our nation. there's another possibility. is this a cynical attempt to change the narrative while the president is still battling the fallout over ex-aideomarosa's explosive and unproven charge that a tape exists of trump using the "n" word while he was on "the apprentice"? there's a jury in virginia. as that jury is set to begin deliberating in a few hours in the first trial of the mueller investigation, the trial of paul manafort. is that one of the reasons? a former trump campaign manager could spend the rest of his life behind bars if he is convicted of all the charges against him. you've got to wonder, is this president hoping to distract you from that? so let's begin our coverage now. i want to bring in john dean, who was nixon white house counsel, knows a lot about enemies lists. cnn global affairs analyst susan glasser, staff writer for "the new yorker." good to have you on. john, sarah sanders said trump is still considering similar action on comey, jim clapper, michael hayden, sally yates, susan rice, andrew mccabe. president nixon famously had his enemies list. is this puresident trump's? >> it's certainly got some similarities. i did some research today to look into what nixon had done in this area, to see if he'd ever used the security clearance apparatus as part of his way to get at his enemies. i can find no similarities. in fact, the big difference i find between nixon and trump is nixon talked a tough game. it's on the tapes. there are memos that are written. but there's no execution on most of this stuff. whereas trump seems to know that and he executes. he just does it. that's the big difference. >> i want to take you and our viewers back a little bit. this is from back in the day. you testifying to congress about nixon's enemies list. this is from nbc. here it is. >> as i have submitted in documents, other agencies were involved in seeking politically embarrassing information on individuals who were thought to be enemies of the white house. i might also add that in my possession is a rather -- very much down the lines what was you're talking about, is a memorandum that was requested by me to prepare a means to attack the enemies of the white house. there was also maintained what was called an enemies list, which is rather extensive and continually being updated. >> there were -- did you to me about that. was that gasps? >> that was -- there was a silence in the room. then a gasp. and everyone was kind of stunned. i hadn't put that in my prepared testimony. i'd actually talked to lowell wiker, senator from david beckham, mentioned it to him. i said, if you ask the right questions, i have some documents the committee may find of interest. %-p. >> susan glasser, i want to bring you in you. you find it ironic that president trump says brennan engages in unfounded and outrageous allegations, and wild outbursts on the internet. sounds like someone we know, doesn't it? >> you know, don, i'm still recovering from yesterday's wild outburst on the internet from the president of the united states. you know, i had one of those moments that hits you at different times. yesterday morning, remember that feeling of waking up? it was only 24 hours or so ago. and realizing that even though nothing is truly shocking anymore, the president of the united states called someone a dog yesterday. and now today he's accusing someone else of frenzied commentary on the internet. i think john's point is a really interesting and excellent one. in a way, right, the difference between nixon and trump, many people have pointed this out but it seems relevant today, is that it's almost as if many of these things that nixon took such pains to hide on the tapes are actually playing out in realtime. there's gasps in the room when john dean, decades ago, talks about an enemies list. today you have the face of the president's own press secretary calmly reading out a list of names. there's no audible sense of shock or dismay anymore. i think that's part of the difference from where the country was at with nixon. there was still the ability to shock and horrify people in both parties when the president violated norms. and today we come to this apparently unprecedented situation of retaliating against a political opponent by withdrawing his security clearance. and you know, how many people are actually even shocked by it anymore? very few. >> and wouldn't be surprised if we hear in coming days, subsequent days, that these other folks' security clearances have also been taken away as well. john, you know, john brennan spoke with msnbc earlier and he said this is how tyrants and despots act. is this attack on free speech? >> absolutely is. he's unhappy with what brennan has said, he's attacking him for it. what's stunning to me is he just totally ignored the process that's inherent in the executive order that establishes the security system. and sort of unilaterally invoked his own will. now he can't really do that, and i'm hopeful brennan will stand up and test this. because there is a procedure, and he just totally ignored it. >> susan, in an interview with "the wall street journal" trump says he was prepared to yank brennan's security clearance last week but it was too hectic. he told "the wall street journal" that he would put a republican on it too "if i thought they were incompetent or crazy." what was so hectic about being on vacation last week? >> well, your guess is as good as mine, don, on that one. i think it's a really interesting question that john raises here, which is, imagine that there were to be a legal case testing whether this constitutes a presidential abuse of power, whether it constitutes a violation of john brennan's first amendment rights to speak as he pleases. it's a very interesting question. i think no one disputes the idea that the president of the united states has more or less unchallenged power to grant and revoke security clearances. but once there is an administrative process in place and it does appear that president trump has violated what would be the normal process for granting or revoking a clearance, that to me is a very interesting set of legal questions. so you can actually be facing, wholly separate from the mueller investigation what if you had a federal court case making its way through the system challenging whether there was a presidential abuse of power here? which is what this seems like to a layperson like me. it seems like almost the definition of a presidential abuse of power. >> susan, john, stick around, i have more to talk about. when we come back, from one president to another, the words richard nixon said in 1974 that could be a message to president trump today. ♪ ♪ ♪ raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens ♪ ♪ bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens ♪ ♪ brown paper packages tied up with strings ♪ ♪ these are a few of my favorite things ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ these are a few of my favorite things ♪ your neighbors. you like them. they always remember everyone's names. your kids love swimming in their pool. you like them. if you forget your trunks, they'll loan you some. they have a section in their stock portfolio just for pool stuff. everyone likes them. you like them. but you'd like them better if you made more money than they do. don't get mad at your well-liked neighbors. get e*trade. the first thing that was important for me to change was the culture of the company. and i think that had to shift to responsible growth. second thing i wanted to change was the leadership of the company. and the third was for us to start listening. listening to our riders. listening to our driver partners. i think listening is ultimately going to make us a better company. this is a story about mail and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you ♪ >>> president trump trying to silence his critics now. in the midst of explosive allegations from former aide only er omarosa, with a jury deliberating, with the possibility of an interview with robert mueller looming, he could be doing himself more harmed than good. john dean, susan glasser. so john, you're going to recognize this piece of history. listen to president nixon, 1974. >> never be petty. always remember others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. and then you destroy yourself. >> so john, i know you recognize that clip, it's president nixon's words as he resigned the presidency in disgrace. and my friend larry sabato pointed out that, can anyone get this message to the president? >> you know what's interesting in that clip too is i think nixon does get it in that clip. when he -- at one point his body language is very revealing when he literally takes his hand and points to himself. that's always a very striking action for me when i watch that clip. but you know, i don't think trump gets it. and that's a clip that he should see. >> when you're watching all of this, john, what's going through your head? are you saying, my god -- i ask you this question a lot. history is repeating itself, it seems. >> the echoes are frightening, don. we are just -- it's too -- i can't believe it's happening in my lifetime, frankly. i thought when we exposed watergate, laid it all out for all the lugginess that it was, that no president, certainly in my lifetime, would ever go down this path again. and trump is doing it not behind closed doors. >> right out in the open. >> he's doing it on the front porch. >> yep, right in the open, and people are cheering him, which is sad. the paul manafort trial going on, the jury, the omarosa saga is happening, it's all blown up in the president's face. to the point of whether this is a distraction. you think it's much more conquestionable than that? >> you know, everything is a distraction and nothing is a distraction. you know, my husband often uses the analogy that, you know, trump's way of distracting us is to say, you know, forget about that burning house over there, let me light my own house on fire. and there's an element of that, you know. that he's doing damage to himself. and -- >> because this story may be worse than a distraction, but to your point, go on. >> absolutely. for example, three weeks ago when this first came up, remember that the speaker of the house, paul ryan, basically told reporters who asked him, is the white house really going to withdraw security clearances from these former officials? bryan said basically -- laughed it off and said, no, i just think the president is trolling us. and he and so many other people have gotten used to treating this as sort of an empty spectacle that has no real meaning, right that it's sort of the public theatrics of donald trump, don't pay attention to that, pay attention to some elusive substance that's happening. what i find striking, right, is that paul ryan was wrong. and trump has gone ahead and turned this from a carnival and just a spectacle or reality show or whatever analogy you want to pick for it and he's actually taken an action in the real world that none of his predecessors, many of whom obviously had serious issues with former officials who used to work for the government, speaking out, criticizing them publicly -- president trump is not the first president to really wish he could silence his critics, he's the first one to take this action. again, it's not just a carnival, it's not just crazy stuff that he says on twitter. and so to me, that is consequential. and imagine how these republicans in congress, many of whom have started to speak out, some of them even in defense of this action tonight, i believe that senator john kennedy from louisiana actually said, well, john brennan deserve s it, he'sa butthead. how are republicans going to feel in the future when there's a president of another party and this president has set retaliating against your political critics in this fashion? >> to the question that i asked, you talked about republicans not responding, when i said the president told "the wall street journal" he would add a republican to the list, remember the quote was he would add -- i would put a republican on too if i thought they were incompetent or crazy. well. mccabe is a republican. i think hayden is a republican. james there are republicans who are on that list. although they don't like to tell you that, john. >> that's exactly right. i think -- you know, trump doesn't think through any of this. he speaks just off whatever thought is in his head. this is something, though, that he realized he could do, apparently it was suggested to him by a member of the united states senate and he bought right into it. he said, yeah that's a good idea. and so we're seeing it play out. and it's unprecedented. and that's why we've got to hope that somebody stands up and tests the procedure. that he just can't do it unilaterally without any check at all. >> and again, i'm not sure if hayden is a republican, he may be an independent. there are at least two republicans on that list, comey and mccabe. >> he is republican. >> he is republican, there you go. susan, you raise an interesting point. if the president is freaking out this much about the omarosa book and the manafort trial, which is the legal proceeding that ho

james clapper, james comey, michael hayden, sally yates, susan rice, andrew mccabe, peter strzok, lisa page, bruce orr. >> all those names are potential officials except bruce orr who currently serves in the justice department and whose wife worked for the firm that commissioned the steele dossier. >> so we have this situation here, heidi, where first time ever, these are waters we are just floating into, uncharted before, but it may not be the last. the timing of it, the date on the statement. and again what we're hearing time and time again, the distraction factor. >> that's right. as andrea mitchell reported this would be the first time ever, absent some kind of criminal accusation or conviction, that a former official would have their license revoked. then of course there's this very suspect timing. the date that was scrubbed from that press release that seemed to suggest a decision was made awhile ago, and yet it was strategically dropped the night after brennan criticized him, and also, very importantly, as the president is trying to distract us from this omarosa nartive. >> the

i am evaluating action with respect to the following individuals, james clapper, james comey, michael hayden, sally yates, susan rice, andrew mccabe, peter stzok, lisa page and bruce orr. security clearances for those who still have them may be revoked and those who have already lost their security clearance may not be able to have it reinstated. >> to be clear, there are no specific allegations from the white house about the mishandling of classified information or leaking of classified information or anything else like that. mishandling or leaking classified information is a crime. this announcement from the white house is not a criminal accusation, just an announcement of people the president wants to go after. the white house has a new list. how does one get so lucky as to get on this list? the first time the white house floated this idea also in the white house briefing room a few weeks ago they were actually pretty explicit what you have to do to get on this list. >> not only is the president looking to take away brennan's security clearance, he's also looking into the clearances of comey, cl