questioning brennan. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> your colleague lindsey graham said in part to his comments to our own casey hunt we should be totally supportive of the president's actions. i also want to play what john bolton said regarding the obama counterterrorism effort. let me play it and get your reaction to both of those. >> the approach that the obama administration is following is consistent with and really derived from the bush administration approach to the war on terror and i think it's entirely sensible. >> do you agree with that? lindsey graham saying totally sensible. >> we are fighting a war that's much different than the classic and traditional wars that we have fought in the past. the result of that is the methods of fighting that war and the way that americans are involved in the war are different than what they have in the past. and so, we're really in a process today of a much maturing way of handling these, of looking at them. i think there's going to be a robust discu

i want to point something out about john brennan. i know john brennan. i have met him several times. john brennan is the man that killed osama bin laden at the order of president barack obama by integrating cia assets, producing the intelligence, passing that intelligence on to our special mission war fighters and executing that mission. he has unique intelligence knowledge, which must be shared with his successors and his opinion which should be brought forth whenever this nation needs to defend itself. donald trump does not concern himself with the protection of this nation. he concerns himself with the protection of donald trump. and so he allows people -- as steve said, people like jared kushner who made contact with the cushions and asked for secure krip toe graphic communications to hide his back channel from the cia and the nsa, he should not be cleared. john brennan should be cleared. at this point donald trump has given more top secret information to the russians just through inadvertent disclosure than the clearance that john brennan has had. s

and john brennan doesn't respect the president. got that. the question for the nation is, can we draw on the experience of these predecessors who have these clearances to provide advice? i would argue john brennan has a voice in doing that. i think he ought to retain his clearance. >> by that explanation, and definition, does that mean that the president's actions are imposing a threat to national security ji n security? not being annal to give big picture perspective sump as the ones you reached out to your predecessors for and articulated earlier? is that a national security throat without having those voices? >> i believe it is. i'll add another thought. think how this entire controversy plays out and is observed from abroad, from beyond our shores where our allies, partners and friends and our opponents are looking at this kind of division and polarization and this extreme name-calling back and forth. that does us an extreme disservice internationally. i add that, alex in a national security concern to the one i voiced previous

>> yeah, he's right, but this goes beyond brennan. the talk of them revoking other great figures, patriot i call them. bob gates and panetta. names you hear and can't believe. these are patriots with a lot to offer people who are currently serving in intentilligence in o country. we have to know where we've been to know where we are going. and by revoking the clearances, of all these people who could guide current officials, this is no good for america. so the base at some point for being the patriots that they are and sort of thumping that book of we need to be safe. we need to be secure and defense comes first, what are they going to make of this as it continues on trump slowly but surely makes it clear he doesn't like these people because they criticize him. this is no good. i think we're in a moment where we don't know how this is going to fully play out. it's just a sad -- it's a very sad day in america when we see the mccarthy era tactics come to the surface. i never thought i'd see the day in 2018. >> you're echoing the thought

and then brennan says this. quote, it was also my clear impression, batded on thousands of such briefings i have ukt canned over more than three decades, that trump was seeking most to learn what we knew and how we knew it. this deeply troubled me as i worried about what he might do with the information he was being given. foreign intelligence services take much the same approach when they're briefed by the u.s. intelligence community on wrongdoing by their governments. they look for perceived weaknesses in the intelligence and analysis that could be exploited as well as for clues that could help them uncover and then seek to eliminate the human or technical sources providing sensitive and damning information. during the briefing, trump posited his own theories about election interference and his skepticism that the culprit was russia, articulating what would become a well honed attack strategy seeking to discredit any suggestion that his election was fraudulent or in any way influenced by russian interference.

the other thing is john brennan, i'll say one thing and i know we'll get into other aspects of the brennan interview. it's not -- the president has the right to cancel these security clearances, but he doesn't necessarily have the right to do it for the wrong reasons. there are thousands of people in washington that have security clearances. it cannot be the case that the only ones who deserve to have theirs scrutinized and taken away are vocal public opponents of donald j. trump. that cannot be the case. so if you do something you have a legal right to do, but if you do it for vindictive reasons, political reasons, you know, that may not fly. >> i think john brennan conceded that conspiracy is off the table. rudy seized on that. when he does this, he just wants to talk to chuck todd about the fact that john brennan just took conspiracy off the table. yesterday richard burr, the chairman of the senate intelligence committee, about whom there's wide spread evidence he's worked well with warner, said there is no factual basis for conspiracy or collusion that has yet been introduced to his co

we want to hear from brennan. we want to hear from other experts as to how they feel we're moving forward with these problematic regions around the world. >> he is tweeting about this so-called witch hunt over 100 times. he wants to discredit the investigation but it is moving forward and of continues to charge and diet people. >> the way the white house is weighing in on all of this, saying it will honor border patrol, ice agents, and the like later this month. i know you lead the unsuccessful push in congress to abolish i.c.e. why do you think the white house is doing this. >> first we want to restructure i.c.e. and they go back to their original mission. >> not abolish? >> we want to restructure. 60% of the resources are being spraet thd to separaused to sep from her baby. that is not what ice was intended to be p. >> they are extending to the deportation of separated families. 356 kids have parent that's are already deported. the reunification efforts, how are they going in your mind? >> the trump had min stra

director john brennan. and of course, it comes in the middle of this maelstrom of a news cycle. but any time somebody like john brennan writes a book, it's going to have news in it, just in terms of what he has been through. john brennan was deputy executive director of the cia during 9/11, was chief of staff to george tenet during the george w. bush administration. he was president obama's top adviser on counterterrorism and homeland security and became cia director after the david petraeus cia directorship blew up because of the fbi investigating petraeus disclosing classified information to his mistress. remember that scandal? used to be that scandals in washington actually had consequences. there's lots of news, large and small, from the new brennan book. you can hear about the obama transition team leaving john brennan accidentally stranded at the chicago airport. you can read what john brennan's wife-to-be thought of him getting his ear pierced when he was in his 20s, also his whole motorcycle phase.

but when it comes to john brennan, the president very frustrated by the way in a brennan has in a systemic way criticized the president on policy issues on the way he has conducted position in office, and his temperament and capacity to be president. very personal in that sense avey broad criticism from john brennan. so the president tweets has anyone looked at the mistakes that john brennan made while serving as cia director? he will go down as the worst in history and and he has become, and this is the heart of the most recent criticism, he has become nothing less in an a loud mouth partisan political hack who cannot be trusted with the secrets to our country phenomen. so to suggest that because brennan is a critic he is somehow not able to contain what he no hes about national security, sort of embedded in that tweet, but the broadest part of what the president is saying is really about the political criticism that john brennan has leveled for a considerable amount of time. he is an analyst here at msnbc and has been an outspoken critic. he served both democrats and republicans during h

brennan are posed by his risk. he has leveraged his status with access to highly sensitive information to make a series of outrageous allegations. but then last night in an impromi impromptu interview, the president contradicted his statement. "the wall street journal" says the president revoking john brennan's security clearance and publically considering revoking other security clearances is based entirely on john brennan's involvement in the beginnings of the investigation of the russian attack on the american electoral process. the president said, quote, i call it the rigged witch hunt. it is a sham, mr. trump said in that interview. and these people led it. he asked, so i think it is something that had to be done. john brennan says that he believes the president's increasingly eradic behavior, including the revocation of his security clearance is because robert mueller's investigation is closing in on the president and people close to the president. mr. trump clearly has become more desperate to protect himsel

john brennan is a patriots. and we have the president in the oval office who is being investigated for potentially conspiring with russia. that is the real story here. and what trump wants is it to be he said, she said. no, there is one person and one group of people who are under investigation for potentially undermining our democracy and it is not john brennan. >> thanks for joining me twice today. still ahead, the news the white house would want everyone not to talk about. omarosa reeking havoc. right after this. this wi-fi is fast. i know! i know! i know! i know! when did brian move back in? brian's back? he doesn't get my room. he's only going to be here for like a week. like a month, tops. oh boy. wi-fi fast enough for the whole family is simple, easy, awesome. in many cultures, young men would stay with their families until their 40's. >>> i get so upset when i hear mr. trump denigrate the work of national security and intelligence professionals when i know they have a very, very challenging job and juggl

brennan's answer. "i had segment concerns and personal objections to many elements of the eit, the enhanced interrogation tactics program while it was underway. i voiced those objections privately with colleagues at the agency. when i left the agency, i spoke publicly about those concerns. i strongly support the president's ban on such techniques." steve clemons, is he going to have a difficult time justifying that statement because he was part of those early years? what proof is there that he did push back against the bush administration techniques? >> i think proof is tough to say. he is saying he pushed back. the president is month -- is fonder of no one more than john brennan, so the president is putting his own credibility on the line with john brennan, and it's something that's supposed to be a badge of, you know, why we should trust this man, but it is tough for some democrats. i know senator mark udall and others have been days pointed in john brennan's lack of attentiveness to some of their co

cia director john brennan. >> on january 15th, 2014, cia director brennan requested an emergency meeting to inform me and vice chairman chambliss that without prior notification or approval, cia personnel had conducted is search, that was john brennan's word, of the committee's computers at the offsite facility. the cia did not ask the committee or its staff if the committee had access to the internal review or how we obtained it. instead, the cia just went and searched the committee's computers. >> despite the fact that feinstein says her concerns are based on what cia director brennan has told her personally, brennan is rejecting the accusations. this morning in an interview with our own andrea mitchell brennan repeatedly insisted his agency was in the clear. >> let me assure you that cia, in no way, was spying on the senate. we greatly respect the separation of powers between the executive branch and legislative branch. >> as far as the allegations of cia hacking into senate computers, nothing could be further than the truth. we wouldn't do that. that is just beyond the scope of reaso

i don't think we should change the system because of brennan. i think the idea of collaborating with people in prior administrations to keep us safe makes sense, but i can't imagine sharing anything with brennan given his hatred towards president trump. >> why do people who no longer work for the federal government still continue to have a security clearance? >> do you worry this is just nakedly political? it is all people who have opposed the president in some political way, not just on the national security front? >> politics happening in washington, d.c.? i'm shocked. >> now to new reporting from the "wall street journal" that infamous "access hollywood" tape was the impetus for the hush money tape to stormy daniels. a person familiar with the journal tells the journal that michael cohen initially resisted the idea of buying the siel lens of the porn star when it was brought up in 2016. the $130,000 non-disclosure agreement was reportedly signed just days later. federal investigators are looking into whether the payment amounted to a reported

he was very careful yesterday and so was john brennan and everyone has been careful to say john brennan in the flow chart reports to dni jim clapper. isn't the president signaling that he believes, look, intelligence belongs to the cia? >> well, brennan will be a very strong leader of the cia and he has 25 years of experience at the cia. but, let's roll back the videotape. after 9/11. remember, we have the intelligence in iraq war and lots of us, i was certainly one of the ring leaders wanted to reorganize our intelligence capability so we can get it right. one thing that happened along the way, president bush 43 issued an executive order calling something the terrorist threat center. that wasn't in the law. this was an executive order. brennan became its first director and then when we passed the intelligence reform law in 2004, there were four of us who were very keen to do this. pete huxtra was my partner in the house and joe lieberman did this in the senate. when we passed this law national terrorism center. brennan was its director. he has been in at the beginning. a number of role

fallout after president trump decides to revoke the security clearance of former cia director john brennan. the president is accusing him of abusing his access, without offering any evidence. >>> it is up to the jury now. deliberations are set to begin this morning in the fraud trial of former trump campaign chairman paul manafort. >>> with 82 days until the midterm leaks new polling showing democrats have the advantage in the race for congress. breaking down all the new numbers for you. good morning. it is thursday, august 16th. i'm richard lui alongside frances rivera. we're going to start with this. president trump has revoked the security clearance of former cia director john brennan, punishing a prominent critic of the president as a former white house aide makes explosive claims and the jury heads to deliberate in the trial of trump's 2016 campaign chief. white house press secretary sarah sanders announced the action by reading a statement from the president, take a listen. >> mr. brennan's lying and recent conduct characterized by frenzied commentary is wholly inconsistent with acce

the president's argument is that he's revoking brennan's clearance because brennan has somehow become something of a threat to national security. >> 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 has leveraged his status as a former high-ranking official with access to highly sensitive information to make a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations, wild outbursts on the internet and television about this administration. >> and here is what sarah sanders asked when asked about the sheer pettiness of this decision. >> how is this announcement by the president, how can americans not interpret that as a getting back against his critics? and isn't it also an attempt to curtail their freedom of speech by penalizing them for being critical on television? >> not at all. the president has constitutional responsibility to protect classified information and who has access to it. and that's what he's doing is fulfilling that responsibility in this action. this is actual

brennan. you dploektor brennan. >> i do. >> when you seen him speak on friday and then this morning on "meet the press," put in context to the comments he made so far about being treasonist. >> first of all, mr. brennan is an extremely serious man. he understands the words he used. he is an intelligence analyst. i think he explained himself very carefully. he described the behavior as trees onnist, having the aspects of treason. wasn't making a legal argument. he's not a lawyer. wasn't delivering an indictment. that's said, when john brennan speaks and michael hayden speaks and others speak, these are serious, serious people who have been in this system and have worked for presidents of parties for a long time. they should be listened to. what they know of which they speak. i think it's important they understand they're using words very, very carefully. >> very carefully. then on the flip side, those critical of what director brennan has been saying so far, why are you in the media, why are yo

former colleagues of brennan are jumping to his defense. you heard john heilemann reference this letter. first of all, there's navy retired admiral william mccraven, the former navy s.e.a.l. who oversaw the bin laden raid. he's written this open letter to the president in "the washington post." calling brennan 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. then came this document, a response from a dozen 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 brennan 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." erin,

what's really remarkable is john brennan appears to have the support to be confirmed. but a lot of pent-up animosity from all the last decade or so in the post- 9/11 era all came out at yesterday's senate confirmation hearing. everyone has their own pet issues. and we saw kind of a big blow-up on the drone issue after nbc reported on some of the memos about legally targeting, you know, american citizens. so everyone kind of hit john brennan as a pinata over their own issue, even though it was clear by the end of the day yesterday that he will eventually be confirmed. >> so we've heard so far that the senators questioned brennan extensively about the use of drones. what other topics can we expect him to be grilled on about these hearings? >> torture remains a sensitive issue. part of the walk down memory lane was asking brennan what he knew and when and why he didn't do more to stop harsh interrogation tactics like waterboarding that were employed during the bush administration. there was also a lot of criticism over leaks that have happened. even though the presidentia

john brennan is a patriots. and we have the president in the oval office who is being investigated for potentially conspiring with russia. that is the real story here. and what trump wants is it to be he said, she said. no, there is one person and one group of people who are under investigation for potentially undermining our democracy and it is not john brennan. >> thanks for joining me twice today. still ahead, the news the white house would want everyone not to talk about. omarosa reeking havoc. right after this. >> tech: at safelite autoglass, we really pride ourselves on making it easy for you to get your windshield fixed. >> teacher: let's turn in your science papers. >> tech vo: this teacher always puts her students first. >> student: i did mine on volcanoes. >> teacher: you did?! oh, i can't wait to read it. >> tech vo: so when she had auto glass damage... she chose safelite. with safelite, she could see exactly when we'd be there. >> teacher: you must be pascal. >> tech: yes ma'am. >> tech vo: saving he

the nominee's name was john brennan. what paul opposed specifically about brennan's nomination to head the cia was the agency's drone program. its unmanned drones. drones, of course, the cia uses to secretly target and kill what it says are terrorists but what many cases end up being nnt civilians killed as collateral damage. countries like pakistan and yemen. paul was and still is opposed to the drone program and wanted more information about the program brought to light. so filibustering john brennan's nomination to run the cia was going to be his way of doing that. was going to be his way of drawing attention to this issue. since you can't leave the senate floor while you are filibustering something, that's what the rules say, paul went on and on and on for hour after hour until he got to the point that we will all eventually get to, the point where you just can't ignore nature's call any longer. >> and i would go for another 12 hours to try to break strom thurmond's record, but i discovered there are some limits to f

senator udall issued a statement that says i have lost confidence in john brennan. i am concerned about the director's apparent inability to find any flaws in the agency he leads. the white house is defending john brennan, but one would imagine that the senators on this intelligence committee are not going to let it simply end here with an apology from john brennan. >> well, i suspect not. you've had several senators including senator widen demanding to know having a clear accountability of what happened, who, perhaps, ordered this intrusion. how it happened. i think there will probably be some internal wrangling over this because, look, the white house has said john brennan has said and a lot of people on capitol hill have said they want to get this report out and put this entire matter behind them, and i think that not just the findings of this internal cia

brennan. says, number one, he has no regrets about revoking the former cia director's security clearance. number two, brennan will the no be his last target. three, his motivation for taking that action is without a doubt the russia investigation. just consider who is now in his crosshairs. >> i think bruce ohr is a disgrace. i suspect i'll be taking it away very quickly. i think that bruce ohr is a disgray with his wife nelly. for him to be in the justice department and to be doing what he did, that is a disgrace. that is disqualifying for mueller. >> who is bruce ohr? he is a current doj employee who reportedly had meetings with christopher steele, the author of the dossier. though it's not clear what the two men discussed or whether that information was passed on to the doj. o hr's name was included in the house intel report on the russia probe. all of the people donald trump is threatening have some tie or another to the russia investigation and that includes those who have been witnesses

action against brennan was directly linked to brennan's involvement in the russia probe. >> there is no silence. if anything, i am giving him a bigger voice. many people don't even know who he is. and now he has a bigger voice and that is okay with me. i like taking on voices like that. i have never respected him. this just came up lately and it is a disgusting thing, frankly. look, i say it. i say it again. that whole situation is a rigged witch hunt. >> the president singled out the only official still in office whose security clearance is under review. justice department lawyer named bruce orr. >> he is a disgrace. i suspect i will be taking it away quickly. i think bruce orr is a disgrace with his wife nelly. for him to be in the justice department and do what he did is a disgrace. >> a career employee of the justice department is no longer involved in the probe. names on the list include james comey, andrew mccabe, sally yates and peter strozk. as rachel maddow points out last night, cutting off their access to classified information could have a direct impact. >> what if the pr

it's an effort by trump to exclude the ability of his government to talk to brennan, to punish brennan to send a signal. it's the kind of thing that really does happen in banana republics. it shouldn't happen in the united states. >> i wanted to switch to a democratic incumbent governor, andrew cuomo, running for reelection, challenged by cynthia nixon in the primary coming up. this is what he had to say to a predominantly women's group. this is his comment, trying to say -- i think he was trying to say that things aren't great for everyone. let's play it. >> we're not going to make america great again. it was never that great. we have not reached greatness. we will reach greatness when every american is fully engaged. >> but rick, you've done commercials before. that sound bite of "america was never that great" is already being played. >> and it will be, it will be played by cynthia nixon over and over. it was a misstep. i take the governor's point. the point he was actually trying to make, it was very clumsy, he got away from his own remarks and said it. and, you know, it's one of th

take john brennan. i would have liked to track the last 30 years of john brennan, what he did, what his day was like, what his public service was to this country and contrast it with donald trump's last 30 years. i have to applaud admiral mccraven. that has got to start to happen in this country. on every level. people speaking out in ways they haven't before. public servants speaking out and once again, to me the real villains in this are the republicans. there is no level that donald trump cannot send to that would be a surprise but kasie, in your beat, to tell me there is not one republican out there that does not have an issue with stripping the security clearance. making our country -- >> not one, there has been some. susan collins qualified and bob corker spoke out about it weeks ago forcefully. for the most part yesterday people saying, the president had the trite do this. >> as jack nicholson said when they took him off the wall, you made this country a little less safe today. now we don't have

so talking about what he did to brennan. and these people led it so it is something that had to be done. doesn't that blow up any appearance of process or rigor that went into this that the press secretary tried to underscore today in the briefing room? >> he makes it clear that the criteria that people start investigations on him and people that are out to get him. this is not obviously concern of the use of classified information. they don't have any evidence that they made public about any misused or classified if they're as concerned about something john brennan might have done, they might have handled it in a different way. this is not about that. it is about the list. one after other people that president trump made clear he considers to be his enemy. he has gone after them repeatedly on twitter and all sorts of ways. this is a list of people he wants punished. as he told the "wall street journal," they were connected to the investigation. >> clint, we have by my account of 50 minutes remaining in today, east coast tim

this is from brennan, hallie. there was an interest on the part of the bureau to make sure the president-elect was very aware and informed of the dossier. it was not part of the hacking report and it was explicitly stated the report in no way took that information into account. this is brennan saying it was the bureau, i.e., the fbi, that almost led the charge on making sure that this information would stay and in the report. that's interesting because who is going to stay on? mr. comey. he will remain the director of fbi. hallie? >> emotional response from john brennan. want to bring in now contribu r contributor -- >> it makes no sense at all. the tick tock shows that president obama was recalcitrant and slow and did not talk about things like either the russian hacking or the dossier. the criticism domestically in the united states is that president obama didn't take action on these things soon enough. so vladimir putin is inventing a narrative here that simply doesn't fit the facts. >> as we talked about a lit

so the president, he revokes john brennan's security clearance, john brennan former cia director out of the government, not in the administration. so not in government right now. bro bruce ohr who the president was tweeting about in government, in the trump justice department is there a difference legally when it comes to revoking a security clearance for somebody not in government. you could fire someone but you can't because of their erace or gender. so is he firing -- revoking the clearance for cause or is he doing it for prohibited purpose because he is concerned that this person is opposing him politically or saying something he doesn't like that may be t e true. >> does he have more latitude if we're talking about folks who aren't currently in the government. is that an area that needs to be worked out? how does that break down? >> it's because in the security clearance area the president has absolute power. it's not regulated by congress. so when he takes these actions the real question is what are the collateral consequences. is he obstructing justice or doing things that wil

he doesn't like what john brennan knows and that knowledge and cutting off john brennan's access so he never again has access to such information is all about the attempt to obstruct, make this go away. silence people who know too much. john brennan was in the early days of this. he understands, and he see the vehement vwith which he makes e fault i can declare if i have statements. john brennan calm up through the ranks as an intelligence analyst. he doesn't make these statements lightly. he's all about the facts. and trump knows that brennan knows too much. if you're on mueller's team, you're seeing this through that lens. silencing someone who knows too much, it goes toward the intent to obstruct. >> all right. when we come back, donald trump ready to take a subpoena fight all the way to the u.s. supreme court to avoid testifying in the mueller investigation. >>> also ahead, omarosa doubles down on the most explosive claim she's made so far. and she's got more tapes. and one of our favorite friends, remember, is one of highs dear est friends, the legendary aretha franklin. ♪ ♪ y

brennan's continued access to classified information. >> the white house, get this, accuses brennan of erratic conduct and behavior. coincidentally it comes a day after brennan's tweet which was a strong rebuke against the president and his insulting language when referring to former trump white house aide omarosa manigault newman, referring to her as a lowlife and a dog. so far newman has been dominating the discussion. the pressure is reportedly getting to the president and the white house. joining me now from the white house is nbc news' hans nichols. hans, this explanation seems a little strange given that the president does nothing but tweet and he's -- he can be described as erratic in his tweeting. it seems highly politicized. >> well, it's politicized but it's also those who have criticized him. this doesn't fall along straight party lines. of those six, seven other names, michael hayden a republican but very critical of the trump administration. of course jim comey was a republican, he's now said he's a democrat. so there are a couple of republicans on there. to me the most in

and it's not going to change what john brennan says about him on tv. if anything, it's given brennan an even larger platform. >> the notion of self-soothing pretty much grosses me out. i want to share part of what "the wall street journal" editorial quote is. the more effective and politically healthy way to fight back would be for mr. trump to declassify all the documents under subpoena from congress about the 2016 election. absent the full story that would provide the missing context, revoking mr. brennan's security clearance looks petty without accomplishing anything useful. if the president wants to claim that brennan was abusing his power, why not reveal the documents that can prove it? the point is we have a special counsel who's looking at this and we should let him do his job. the political witch hunt going on on capitol hill to make the fbi the enemy, the justice department the enemy, which is an effort to reveal documents about an ongoing investigation, is in no way the conclusion you should reach, because this guy's doing something inappropr

that piece of history has dogged brennan for nearly a decade. he became a close advisor to then senator obama during his march to the white house in 2008, but it was that connection to those interrogation programs that ended up preventing president obama from officially nominating brennan to the job he now holds today over at the cia. brennan instead during the first term became the president's chief counterterrorism advisor, became the key voice in the raid that killed osama bin laden, and helped conduct the drone war. when president obama won a second term, the administration decided that enough time had passed and that brennan would be confirmed by the senate this time, and he was. in a 20-13 hearing, brennan promised lawmakers they would get straight answers when he was in charge. >> if i am confirmed, a trust deficit between the committee and cia would be wholly unacceptable to me, and i would make it my goal on day one of my tenure and every day thereafter to strengthen the trust between us. >> but trust may be out the door now. just look

so brennan's breaking his courtesy. trump's breaking -- if it's not a law, it doesn't matter in donald trump's world. it's just a norm like so many that he's stepped all over. >> he's stepping over some laws as well. so we're going to find out whether bob mueller finds there's enough evidence to prove that. >> ron johnson said that, but then brennan said more today. let's listen to what he had to say about collusion. >> but what i'm saying is that there is collusion that took place between individuals, americans, and russians. whether or not this is going to trigger some type of criminal activity indictment is something else entirely. and i've never put forth any thoughts on conspiracy. but collusion, i don't think mr. trump has made a secret of it himself. >> so, danny, we heard a lot in that conversation with the former cia director on "meet the press" today. they were discussing obstruction of justice, conspiracy as well, and you saw there collusion. and he was making no bones about it. >> of course they were talking

brennan. mr. brennan has been an incredibly strong critic of the president for many months now. take a look at a tweet he sent just the other day. 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. sarah sanders also saying that the following officials, former officials now have their security clearance under review. james clapper, james comey, michael hayden, sally yates, susan rice, lisa page, peter strzok, and bruce ohr. bruce ohr currently works at the doj so that would impact how he does his job. no republicans from any republican administration named on that list. sarah sanders was asked directly how the american public can trust that this is not a partisan thing, the president isn't doing this as political retribution for his critics. for example, why isn't michael flynn on that list? after all, the president's former national security advisor pleaded g

brennan know? i say to them generally john brennan knows everything. he knows a lot. explain why that's true. >> well, because he's been around a long time. his entire life has been spent in the intelligence community. and general mccaffery made a couple of really important points to consider here prior to -- we'll show the brennan clips. but one of the reasons, maybe the principle reason that story was leaked within two hours it occurred after the phone call by the president to president putin was made from the residence, not from the oval office, unstaffed, practically, by a president whose knowledge and instinct about foreign policy is tissue thin to be charitable. so, he makes the call. it happens. it's leaked. and the level of disrespect that many people in the intelligence community and the diplomatic community have toward the president of the united states, the leak is the product, the result of that disrespect. the aspect that general mccaffery was speaking to, if you've been in this commun

john brennan had been a career cia figure. he had served as chief of staff to george tenet when george tenet under george bush developed their torture and secret prison program. john brennan's association with the torture and secret prison program of the george bush era of the cia is what sunk his chances for being picked as director of the cia at the start of the obama presidency. it's kind of weird. it's almost a foreign concept in american modern politics that the left might block something from happening, but it's true. liberals thought obama stopping the torture program wasn't enough. that people tarred by association with that program should not be promoted, that there should be political accountability for people who were close to the torture policy. liberals raised enough noise about john brennan's potential nomination to run the cia in 2008 and 2009 that it never happened. at least it never happened in the first obama term. now it is happening in the second obama term. now apparently with the official nomination of jo

they're saying that brennan doesn't need the security clearance. the government is not benefitting from it because the trump administration is not talking to him. and he's abusing his privilege by going on television and attacking the president and being biassed and at this point they don't see anything wrong with what trump has done. >> phil mudd at cnn does what we do all day long. he is emotional, a patriot, as he terrific spokesperson. as a lifelong cia operative for the intelligence community. tomorrow, it may be someone else on the other end of the president's twitter feed. what do you make of brennan's flirtation with legal action? do you think there's a there, there? >> i think it was interesting that the president welcomed a lawsuit from brennan. in part because he seems to have interpret pretty as though brennan would be suing him personally. when in fact i think what brennan would do is probably more narrow in its scope. he would perhaps appear before a judge to make the case that his security clearance was revoked for political reasons

brennan didn't name who they were, but u.s. persons involved in the trump campaign had contacts and interaction with russian officials. i mean, you can't get any innuendo or hence any stronger than that that where there is smoke there is perhaps fire. and republicans certainly have a cause to be concerned top. >> rick stengel, so the president now has a personal lawyer because the white house counsel really represents the institution of the white house. and you if i have had this discussion before, the kind of government worker ethos, the career public official ethos that if all these reports are true the president has bumped up against miscalculating the kinds of people perhaps that he was going to run into. >> in his dealings with comey, in his dealings with the other people that he has perhaps tried to subon to obstruct justice these are career officials who are just deeply offended by being asked about that. i mean we have seen those stories in the paper n the "washington post" story today. i think he doesn't come prehelped

i think brennan will be confirmed in the end. how bloody will the battle be to get hagel and particularly across the finish line. i'll say something about the far left in the senate. generally the progressive far left is not a large voice in the senate, especially on the armed services committee where these nominees are going through and getting grueling questions from senators. it's just not a loud voice in the senator and i don't know if they have that much of an impact in the long run in the process. >> thank you very much. colonel jacobs, a pleasure, as well. talking with you soon, i'm sure. thank you. >>> still ahead, call him a confident man. what nbc's first read team says president obama's cabinet nominations show about the president's confidence levels today compared to 2009. >>> plus, a lotto murder mystery. a million dollar winner murdered as he was about to collect the big paycheck. one of the stories that we have for you around the "news nation." >>> right now, governor christie delivering the state of the state addr

>> well, i think what struck me most about director brennan, former director brennan's testimony, was as you were describing, what he said about his impression of these links between not just u.s. citizens but americans associated with the trump campaign and unidentified russians. thinkt was interesting especially that it was a republic, trey gowdy, of south carolina, who was really goading him on this question. i think it is pretty clear that congressman gowdy was trying to set a trap. he was trying to get director brennan to either say there was no evidence of collusion, no information pointing to collusion whatsoever, or to breach his solemn obligation not to introduce classified information in front of public testimony. and it was interesting to note that director brennan, time and again, reminded congressman gowdy that his own committee had this classified information. so congressman gowdy was actually asking for things that his staff had in an effort to lay this trap that i think director brennan avoided very effectively. >> naveed, how does this affect the investigation going f

in contrast, john brennan is already retired. and with the exception of bruce orr who still works in a senior role at the justice department, all the other law enforcement person he will who the president threatened and put on this list yesterday for security clearance revocation, they're all prior officials now toorgs. they're formers. they're not running anything when trump fired him. and i got that distinction. there is one part of this that you should know. what brennan himself was saying right up until this whole they know blew up about how exactly he was using his security clearance these days. >> i don't know what will happen. they have a real flawed understanding that what the security clearances mean. i've gone back to the agency a number of times to review my files so i can be prepared for congressional hearings as well as by staff. i've never requested a briefing on any issue over the last year and a half since i left government. >> what he has used his security clearance for is to go back to the agency a number of tim

>> what, with brennan? >> i'm going push back against everybody, do what i want, revoke security clearances. if you'd like to write an open letter that says that i'm acting more like an authoritarian, go ahead. >> look, this is the trump playbook dating back to his advice from his lawyer, roy cohn, that you never apologize and you always aggress. anyone comes at you, you come at them. lebron james says something in an interview, you tweet about lebron james. you never let anything go. you never let any criticism pass you. >> so why do republicans cheer him on for that? >> this is where his attack -- this is where his attacks on the media and his attacks on the critics become extremely corrosive and you see their actual impact. so he's lumping all of his critics in with what john brennan has done and how he has acted, which is not true. >> why do republicans cheer this on? why do they enjoy it? >> well, you have to divide the republicans who cheer it on from the republicans who are living in kind of shocked