well, this after former navy admiral william mccraven, who oversaw the raid that killed osama bin lauddenette challenging the president to revoke his clearance as well. what are republicans saying about trump's decision to take away the security clearance? >> to be honest, for the most part republicans on capitol hill are supportive of the decision or at least not speaking out against it. there's a few isolated voices that sort of cried foul on the president's move including senator bob corker, who heads the foreign relations committee in the senate. but for the most part what we're hearing is broadly supportive of the president. john cornyn who over sees the intelligence community and who is the second in command among senate republicans came out in support of the president's decision. rand paul, who has been a close ally of president trump for years now, not only supported the decision but called for it before it happened. cory gardner, one of the most important republicans politically because he heads the national republican senatorial committee, came out in support of the decision. so

tonight a show of solidarity from the commander behind the bin laden raid, retired navy admiral william mccraven goading the president, "i would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well." on capitol hill, fierce fallout, including from many republicans. >> look, i, i thought it was just kind of a banana republic kind of thing, and you know, i don't like it, i think it's inappropriate. >> i do not see the grounds for revoking his security clearance. >> reporter: but some defending the president, including richard burr, the chairman of the senate intelligence committee, writing in his statement "brennan should tell congress about any evidence of collusion" but burr adding if brennan is sharing classified information for political purposes, "the president has full authority to revoke his security clearance." and he's not alone. >> i believe it was about time he did take away that, because brennan has been very outspoken, for a guy that was dealing in national security interests as thoroughly as he was. >> reporter: now the president has also been trying to turn the pag

parallel is seen between that moment and a blistering columniest from retired four-star admiral william mccraven who commanded the mission that killed osama bin laden directly challenged trump and his words, you've embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and worst of all divided us as a nation. good morning. it's "morning joe." it's friday, august 16th. i'm willie geist. and the host of "kasie dc," kasie hunt. almost not recognizing the lightning. has it worn out its lightning nomplgts. i like it. i wish we could have donny in the light. you need a little light. >> i need some weather effect. >> a cloud over your head normally? >> well, a man, really, who needs no title or sound effect. the great donny deutsch. also with us republican communications strategist and msnbc political contradicter rick tyler. republican strategist and msnbc political analyst not pictured here susan del percio. there now we have pulitzer prize winning columnist and associate editor of the "washington post" and msnbc political analyst eugene robinson, political reporter for "the dai

. >> first william mccraven who oversaw the raid that captured osama bin laden. he said he wanted his own seevrity clearanceed as well. >> then came a letter signed by more than a dozen former intelligence chiefs, like george tenant, leon panetta and robert gates who also chided the president for revoking brennan's security clearance >> by and .la for years it was your dream house. now it's your home. ♪ it's where your family feels ready to take on anything. jump in with confidence with the suntrust smartguide mortgage application. visit onup.com or speak to the suntrust team to help buy or remodel your home. suntrust confidence starts here. >>> welcome back. 11 people are safe after nearly being swept away by fast moving floodwaters near colorado springs. check this out, you can see here first responders carrying a ild awayn an suv. on friday, heavy rain left about two feet ofn water the highway there. 11 people were trapped in six cars. it took firefighters about 40 g minutes everyone free, and once they did, they brought everyone out safely. >>> the postal cre

i mean, admiral william mccraven when he came out last week, asking the president to revoke his security clearance, so that he could be on record as against the administration, i mean, that was a phrase and a public action i never thought i would see from someone like him. i've covered john brennen. i've covered jim clapper, these are not men who scare easily, these are not men who cry wolf. the fact that they are out there shouting at the top of their lungs day after day at this point, that this man is a threat to our nation's rule of law, and our democratic institutions is something that we should be focused on. >> well, david, let's talk a little bit more about that, because former cia national security agency director michael hayden told cnn today that the relationship between trump and the intelligence community is dangerously close to being permanently broken. how dangerous is it -- the state of relations between the president and the intelligence community, that it's so bad that it's at risk of being permanently broken? >> one of the dangers here is that there is the fear -- and i

first of all, there's navy retired admiral william mccraven, who oversaw the bin laden raid and was in special operations. he wrote this "the washington post" calling brennen one of the finest public servants i've ever known. he goes onto say, i would consider it an honor -- this is talking to the president -- if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so i can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency. and from the former top officials, just about all the big names you know we've covered around here that represent both democratic and republican administrations, in it they defend brennen and call the president's action an attempt to stifle free speech. well, here to talk about it all nancy cook is back with us, white house reporter for politico. and we welcome to the broadcast aaron blake for "the washington post." aaron, your colleagues have gone ahead and verified this brennen matter was done without process, without cause, with rigor, that it was indeed political. >> it's setup actually an interesting contrast, i think, between the i

one of those is admiral william mccraven, involved in the bin laden raid. a respected figure on both sides of the aisle and he wrote this in an op-ed for the "washington post." i would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well so i can add my name to the list of men and women who spoke up against your presidency. through your actions you have embarrassed us in the eyes of children, you have humiliated us on the world stage and divided us as a nation. if you think your mccarthy era tactics will suppress the voices of criticism, you are sadly mistaken so you're seeing strong words from someone who is not used to being so outspoken on matters like this. but we posed this issue the white house councilor creak in a gaggle and she was also similarly defiant. listen. >> reporter: what's your admiral to admiral mcraven. >> he's a former cia director who has shown no interest in helping this administration. >>kellyanne ignored the question about mcraven and attacked john brennan who said he was being paid of his opinion even though there

jeremy diamond is our white house reporter and jeremy, we're talking about retired admiral william mccraveny highly respected former senior military officer, who as you mentioned, did oversee the planning and the execution of the raid that ultimately killed osama bin laden, he has now put out a statement telling the president to revoke his security clearance, as well, after the president moved just yesterday to revoke the security clearance of former cia director, john brennan. let me just read you an excerpt of this really remarkable letter from admiral mccraven. he writes, like most americans, i had hoped that when you became president, you would rise to the occasion and become the leader this great nation needs. through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage, and worst of all, divided us as a nation. if you think for a moment your mccarthy-era tactics will suppress the voices of criticism, you are sadly mistaken. the criticism will continue until you become the leader we prayed you would be. now, admiral mcraven is not the firs

william mccraven led operations command from 2011 to 2014. he oversaw that navy seal raid that led to the killing of osama bin laden, writing this scathing op ed in the "washington post" going after the president in very direct terms, saying he has not risen to the presidency and saying, i would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well. you have embarrassed us, humiliated us on the world stage and worst of all divided us as a nation. if you think for a moment your mccarthy era tactics will suppress voices of criticism, you are sadly mistaken. mccraven has been critical of this president in the past. he had some very strong remarks about the president calling the press the enemy of the people, calling it, quote, the greatest threat to democracy he's ever seen. of course, he's seen a lot of threats to democracy over his years in the military, but very strong language today siding with someone that he has served with, john brennan in light of this move by the president just yesterday. >> yes. the admiral understands

rebuke of the president, the man who oversaw the osama bin laden raid, retired navy admiral william mccraven says if you're going to take brennan's clearance, take mine, too. mccraven says it would be an honor to lose his clearance for that reason. >>> former white house aide omarosa manigault-newman releasing a new recording, this time featuring president trump's daughter-in-law lara trump. omarosa says it proves how the white house is trying to buy her silence after she was fired. the "new york times" reporting omarosa could have as many as 200 tapes. >> joining us now, josh dossy, the white house reporter for the "washington post" along with david nakamura who has new reporting on the president's handling of the security clearance issues. and one bit of news overnight, more could be coming shortly. >> that is correct. it seems the president is not content to stop with revocation of john brennan's security clearance. the president says he wants to take the clearances, they have either participated in the russia probe or they criticized him. critics say the move smax cks o authoritarianism.

and large avoid controversy to step forward in public, including, as you know, retired admiral william mccraven who oversaw the takedown of osama bin laden and many other special operations against al qaeda and the taliban in wartime. i just want to reread a portion of his statement from yesterday, because it probably moved a lot of overs today to get involved in public. he wrote, quote, through your actions, to the president he said, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage, and worst of all, divided us as a nation. here's how the president responded. >> i don't know mcraven. i know that i've gotten tremendous response from having done that because security clearances are very important to me, very, very important. and i've had a tremendous response for having done that. >> joining us now is one of the 15 top former intelligence officials who weighed in last night and again today. david cohen served as the deputy director of the cia from 2015 through last year. he is also a former assistant treasury secretary for terrorist financing. mr. cohen, than

retired navy admiral william mccraven, the man who oversaw the raid that killed bin laden, also wrote a letter, challenging the president to revoke his security clearance too. saying it would be an honor if he did so. but the president appears to be unfazed by all of the high-level pushback. "the washington post" reports he's gearing up to strip even more officials of their security clearances and that could happen soon, saying, quote, as part of an escalating attack against people who criticized him or played a role in the investigation of alleged russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign. let's go right to the white house and my colleague, nbc's peter alexander, who's been tracking this all overnight, including the breaking developments. so, peter what are you learning today? >> the president clearly feels emboldened. we now how much he likes appearing strong and decisive. those close to president trump says he views his ability to pull clearances in the same category as the presidential pardon power, something he can do unchecked. remember sarah sanders just this week

and william mccraven slammed trump in an op ed, saying he would consider it an honor if the presidenthe term, but on the other questions he told them to use their common sense. manafort is accused of hiding millions of dollars from the irs and lying to get loans. >>> the vatican says the church needs to learn, quote, hard lessons from its past. a pennsylvania grand jury report found widespread sex abuse in the church stretching back to the 1940s. it documented more than 1,000 victims but says the total is probably much higher. a vatican spokesman says pope francis wants to wipe out this tragic horror. >> we can express our feelings about these horrible crimes in two words. those are shame and sorrow. the holy see is taking very seriously the grand jury report from pennsylvania. clearly the holy see condemns sexual abuse of minors. >> the vatican says the victims should know pope francis is on their side. >>> the honors continue for aretha franklin as the world remembers who taught them how to spell "respect." >> her passing has led to a stream of tributes expected to last for days. >>

i want you to listen to what retired admiral william h mccraven. the man who oversaw the raid that took out osama bin laden wrote. he says -- i'm going to read the whole thing for you. dear mr. president, john brennan whose security clearance you revoked on wednesday is one of the finest public servants i've ever done. fewer americans have done more to protect this country than john. he is a man of unparalleled integrity whose honesty and charkt have never been in question except by those who don't know him. therefore, i would consider it an honor if you revoke my security clearance as well so i can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency. like most americans i had hoped that when you became president you would rise up to the occasion and become the leader we hoped for. a good leader sets the example for others to follow and puts the welfare of others before himself or herself. your leadership, however, has shown little of these qualities. through your actions you embarrassed us in the eyes of your childr

retired admiral william mccraven says hnwould consider it honor if the president would take away hist the epidemic of homelessness affecting 500,000 americans. we're going to take you on an eye-opening tour of the epicenter, skid row i los geles. here's a clip. >> when you lost that first apartment, where did you? >> we ended up in our car and moteling it. >>lleporter: and you were s going to work every day. >> i was hiding it from everybody. and it was hard, sometimes trying to sleep with an 18-month-old in the back seat of a car. because my fears and anxiety was leading me to think that if i just die, my family can get the life insurance andt use t to find a home. that's how bad i felt at the time. >> and here's the thing, she actually worked at a homel shelter and ended up homeless herself. i spent the last few months goin back and forth to los angeles because there's no city in this country where the crisis is worse. more than 55,000 people in the second largest city in this country living in homelessness, many of them on the streets. eo, we wanted to go out and find out how got