stunning news out of Washington President Trump revokes the security
clearance of former CIA director John Brennan press secretary Sarah
Sanders reading a statement from the president explaining why any benefits
that senior officials might glean from consultations with mr. Brennan are now
outweighed by the risks posed by his erratic conduct and behavior mr.
Brennan's line and recent conduct characterized by increasingly frenzied
commentary is wholly inconsistent with access to the nation's most closely held
secrets and facilities the very aim of our adversaries which is to sow division
and chaos Brennan the now MSNBC contributor is a constant critic of
President Trump here he is just last night I think Donald Trump has badly
sullied the reputation of the office of the presidency with his invective with
his constant disregard I think for human decency as well as his befriended of
water crack leaders around the world and his continued pursuit of relationships
to benefit himself as opposed to country I do think that America's standing in
the world has also been tarnished but I think even more fundamentally what he is
doing here in the United States is very polarizing and he is I think the most
divisive president we've ever had in the Oval Office
fresh reaction from John Brennan on Twitter quote this action is part of a
broader effort by mr. Trump to suppress freedom of speech and punish critics it
should gravely worry all Americans including intelligence professionals
about the cost of speaking out my principles are worth far more than
clearances I will not relent the White House is
also now reviewing security clearances of top former intelligence officials and
FBI employees including James Comey Andrew McCabe Susan Rice Peter Strock
and James clapper all right judge anine oh I know you've been following first
this is Brett very closely they say these people
retain their clearances to consult with their successors I don't think he's
doing any consultation now and just as a professional courtesy do you believe he
has forfeited his professional courtesy by the frenzied rhetoric that he's been
exhibiting on cable TV and on Twitter well he certainly has been engaging in a
lot of frenzied behavior and criticism but here's the bottom line you're not
entitled to a security clearance you don't have a right to have it the
president it has the arbitrary right to take it away how many people do we know
whether or not they have it or don't have it
when does it sunset and here's the guy who's lied to Congress a million times
that's an exaggeration you know he he denied the CIA that he was running
improperly access computer files of the Senate it's all in my book which we'll
talk about later but he use it but here's the thing look the guy is he is
it this truth to power nonsense that you need to be able to have this it's really
for an institutional reference nobody in Pompeo ain't calling this guy right so
why does he need it and you know I have no problem with it they're not tied to
it all right so one judge Jeanine brought up one of the issues at stake
for the fact that he lied about spying on Senate staffers he also lied to
Congress when he says oh we don't listen to Americans phone calls in bulk and he
also lied about the use of the dossier said it wasn't really considered in the
intelligence assessment which it was so three things there alone the guy
preferring false information to Congress and to the American people he doesn't
have a great track record when it comes to honesty I think he has a great track
record and I think he's a patriot I tell you I'm to me I don't understand why
Michael Flynn's not on that list you have any idea why Michael ins not on
know I think we know on any Republican not on the list what you think of the
Pope is on the list is he's still a Republican have class so if that's not
it necessary this again you know you put call me puts McCabe they don't even have
clearance so did he but he puts them on the list because essentially and you
hear this now from the Democrats he's created an enemies list so he attacks
the press as the enemy of the American people he attacks his critics he makes
people who work for him signed non-disclosure agreements will host
transparency huh and then of course he's trying to now politicize intelligence
gathering he does not consult with Jim clapper his own Director of National
Intelligence about this move so to me this is like so sad and so authoritarian
and yet I've suppose all these supporters will guess they are a big
deal I think you meant cooks tina is this it's just rare i mean has this ever
happened before i think i think it's not an exaggeration
to say it's unprecedented but as the judge says the president does have the
right to make this decision what I look at as this way why today well solve a
problem like Omarosa by having something to lead with today this document is
actually dated July 26 they didn't change that today when they released it
so they've been holding on to it maybe because of Brennan's comments last night
on MSNBC they decided that was just the last straw and they decided to move
forward but it did provide the White House a way to pivot to the story that
they want to talk about of the day and that is this issue it's very clever the
use of the word erratic because it's that's not just a word that they pick
out of thin air erratic is one of the words that you're
asked about when you are going through a clearance or when your friends and
colleagues or your former work associates they'll be asked did you ever
see Jesse exhibit erratic behavior because that would be a tell that there
might be something wrong with them and they would not be able to deal with that
I do think it looks a little bit like political retaliation but the president
has the ability to do it so if he wants to do it fine I just don't think it
actually does anything beyond this new cycle because John Brennan's not gonna
stop talking is not even using a security clearance anyway alright Greg
welcome back thanks for having me back Jesse your hair is as big as ever you've
you've been missed on your book tour what do you think about this latest
clearance revoking well I think when when people say this is unprecedented
that doesn't matter anymore because everything
2016 is unprecedented and so we also when you have complaints about behavior
emotional behavior Brennan's criticisms of Trump are also pointless because
we've been through that he's still one you can still think he's a jerk he still
beat the pants off you so get over it so there are two big reasons here Brennan
is just another person who was broken by 2016
he's like the reverse version of the movie big instead of a child becoming a
man he is transformed from a man to a petulant child by some supernatural
surreal event that which was the 2016 election this has happened to a lot of
people he's fallen and he can't get off I think
this is trumped arrangements yo absolutely and also I the second reason
is and why his opinion means nothing to me
is back in the 80s at the height of the Cold War thank you Brennan voted for a
communist in the freest country we have ever seen he has no standing to be
critical about any Russian any Russian meddling or any kind of Russian policy
because he didn't just collude he cheerlead he cheerlead at a time when we
really needed people there to fight it to be an anti-communist so the fact that
he got this far is astounding I look forward to his books I know there will
be one and the other thing about this yeah I understand the idea of pivoting
but in in Trump world news is bocce ball yep so the ball comes the ball will be
al Moroso and the next fall will be Brennan but the fact is you can't tell
the difference between that being pivoting or just being another day
because every day I also think it's quite strategic yeah I think I think
they would do it every day I think they do this every day like you wake up every
day thinking you want to be proactive and yeah end up having to react to
things Brennan last night and the clip that we saw here he's reacting to Trump
calling Omarosa a dog and then so what Brennan says is that he's failed to live
up the president has failed to live up to minimum standards of decency it's
disheartening and dangerous for a president to behave in that way for our
nation how dangerous though how dangerous how ugly how disheartening but
you know what the problem is one the problem is that you've got Brennan
and clapper the people who lied to Congress who anyone else you know would
be in jail right now but these are the guys who are monetizing and politicizing
these are the guys who were actually going on television and if you don't
think that security clearance adds to their ability to be lobbyists and
consultants and advisers it's huge they're monetizing it but Michael Flynn
is not the guy is hiding somewhere rapid I think it's monetizing to say that he
was the CIA director he was how did he get on MSNBC got on CNN because he lied
and said he never leaked anything then we find out he leaks something to CNN
and then he's out getting a check from is that 1/4 million people judge who
have security clearance in the country I think it's a million-plus who have top
secret clearance million 3 right so these guys aren't monetizing these our
guys are build a wall we need to build a wall around the people with clearances
he's leveraging his clearance order to gain credibility when he goes on
television and makes these really outrageous statements some of these
statements he says the President of the United States is a danger to national
security he suggested Trump met one-on-one with Vladimir Putin because
he was hiding something from his own security team he says the president has
no credibility and he says he he is a Ponzi scheme artist comparing him to
Bernie Madoff and he said this is all gonna catch up with him kind of making
these veiled threats like oh your security clearance right so it's like it
doesn't necessarily matter he's now that he has the reputation he
has now that he's done he's done he will always be able to be on television he'll
always be able to write books that like that is not this doesn't change that for
him but I do think it is professionally embarrassing you know what most
Americans agree with what you said Brennan believes which is that Trump is
lying about his relations with Russia and that trumps not yeah that's what
surveys show that the Americans are not the least bit interested in the Russians
and you have to be very skeptical of somebody this emotional Brennan is
emotional wreck right now you can't there's something going on in
his head that's not right he's erratic he's
erratic
you
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