Counsel and all others of white house staff to fully cooperate and in addition we readily gave over 1 million pages of documents and again referring to the probe as a witch hunt. Do we know why he decided to talk and what he has shared . Really this all began because threurlts president s personal legal team, his lawyers advising him on the Mueller Probe who suggest suggested mcgahn should sit down. But its after their suggestion that accord thing to times that they got a little concerned about exactly what the white house was planning worried perhaps mcgahn was being set up. May maybe they were attempting to use him as a fall guy. They came up with a plan. There are few people in the trump orbit that know as much as don mcgahn knows about every machination of the special counsel investigation. He knows Donald Trumps conduct and actions leading up to the firing of mueller and of course the president s attempts to fire the special counsel. There wrauz at one point a show down. He would resign as special counsel. Thats why he told counsel he was completely okay with mcgahn sitting down with for series of interviews and they waved the Attorney Client privilege as well, which allowed mcgahn freely to cooperate and of course this makeses him a cooperating witness. Ryan, we saw the tweet. I got a client from william burke. He was very clear about the mcgahn is playing in all this. He said President Trump through counsel declined to assert any privilege. So he answered special counsel questions fully and honestly. And that the relationship remains strong and they have nothing to hide. But if you read between the lines of this Statement Given to us by the mcgahn attorney t seems pretty clear the bulk of the story is accurate and that mcgahn revealed everything he knows. The idea of a white House Counsel turned cooperating witness might sound familiar. You might be drawing the same parallel and thats exactly what mcgahn did. Worried mr. Trump would ultimately blame him, he told people he was determined to asthroeud fate for president richard m. Nixon who was in prisoned in the watergate scandal. I talked to john dean just a short while ago. The New York Times quoting a former white water investigator saying its like having the keys to the kingdom. It gives them a good guide as to where the problems may or may not be. As the clarifying remark that mcgahn didnt in any way incriminate the president. Dont know if thats true or not to. He probably doesnt know if its true or not. He gave them the knowledge he had which would be invaluable to an investigator. Could the president have stepped in and prevented mcgahn from talking openly e . I think he could. He tkaod it on a couple basis. First there would be the Attorney Client privilege and they would have to go to court and get that resolved. There is no privilege for government attorneys. Personal privilege like that. So that would be the one issue. Even probably a stronger basis would be executive privilege where the president can say he doesnt want people helping him in his deliberation process and making his decisions testifying before other bodies like the congress or the courts. Thats what nixon did with his tapes. He said they were subject to executive privilege. The court said well, thats not true when a grand jury sends a subpoena for them. What do you make of this idea that mcgahn was worried about being thrown under the bus . Thats one i understand. I didnt talk to the media during watergate or ever when i was in government. How are they getting along these day stphz a source telling cnn their relationship is akin to an old married couple complaining about each other. Joining us to discuss. Special assistant to exfbi director james comey and with Us Donald Trump biographer and author of the truth about trump. And cnn president al historian. Since we just heard from former nixon counsel do you see a parallel . To degree. But john dean went before congress and testified and made the stunning revelation about the nixon tapes. Like he should. Just talk to mueller about a perjury trap. Just tell the truth, let the chips fall where they may. I think hes looking good for cooperating. But it raises questions about why donald trump is finally sitting down and talking to mueller. Mcgahn talked to 30 hours during three separate occasions. Is that a lot . And why would he be called back three time stphz. Talk about an important witness. And the thing that struck me was not so much the length of time he talked for 30 hours. But the number of . Stances. That it occurred more than wupbs. Three separate occasions. When youre an fbi agent or a prosecutor a lot of time physical you think about the scope of muellers investigation, how long this has gone on, youre going to learn new pieces of information. So if you have someone like mcgahn, you may want to bring him back and ask him about new revelations. What may be worse is if he then remembered things he then volunteered to mr. Mueller. Either way it doesnt look good when you have someone in that position talking to investigators over a period of time more than one time. Just in from cnns dannau bash. Now saying he was encouraged to speak to mueller beyond that they think this is now coming out. It was leaked to get the president to testify he would get angry at him and we want to testify. Michael, what do you make of that since you know inside trumps mind given all the time you spent with him and his family in the pasts . It sort of seems to me like Rudy Giuliani is improving his roy cone imitation. He doesnt have a roy cone by his side and now he does in a former mayor of new york. And theres ample evidence that a lot of this evidence about the investigation is coming from inside the white house and may be coming from either the president himself or mr. Jewel yawny with s there the people around nixon at least understood that he was shrewd, that he remembered what he had said, that he was aware of the peril that he was in. I think the president has pbtd been reliable in his communication with his attorneys. Hes lying to them. So hes protecting himself. I think he doesnt want to be the scapegoat here. And the white house was quick to point out that they didnt fight mcgahn doing the interviews. Their statement sounds like nothing to see here. Is this a big deal . Give us some more historical perspective. Everything right now is a big deal for donald trump. Hes in survival mode. For the mueller investigation, one little anecdote would could cause a lot of problems when your talking for that many hours. This stph week the jury should decide something. People are using words like collusion and impeachment. Treason. Kind of in the public press on the air and its a tough week for donald trump. Hes trying to win it day by day never let thing opposition get a heads up on him. But its closingen and youre feeling i think the last few weeks donald trump panicking all the time. Hes got omarosa with it tapes to taunt him. And that means killing off his enemies like he did with brennan. Using mccarthylike tactics. Anything to survive. Thats whats going on right now. And his willingness to talk with the president s blessing, does that back up the white houses position they have nothing to hide. The job is to come out and speut shine and polish whatever new collatomy is on a given day. What they say and this is something that mr. Brinkly falls in his bailee wick is this a person mr. Mcgahn, who seeses himself as not someone who represents donald trump but someone who represents the office of the presidency. Whatever you come down with the imperial presidency. I think its interestening you have someone who realizes he doesnt represent a man, he represent as office. And once it became clear theyre trying to make him the fall guy days after what is his strategy here and will it work . You wouldnt accept an incomplete job from any one else. Why accept it from an allergy pill . Flonase relieves sneezing, itchy, watery eyes and a runny nose, plus nasal congestion, which most pills dont. Its more complete allergy relief. Flonase. Sfx [cell phone dialing] no. No, no, no, no, no. Cancel. Cancel. Please. Aaagh being in the know is a good thing. Thats why discover will alert you if your Social Security number is found on any one of thousands of risky sites. Oh oh ozempic® vo people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of onceweekly ozempic®. In a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it. Oh under seven . vo and you may lose weight. In the same oneyear study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. 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Some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. I discovered the potential with ozempic®. Oh oh oh ozempic® vo ask your Healthcare Provider if ozempic® is right for you. More than a dozen of former top intelligence officials are raising alarms over President Trumps move to strip cia director brennans security clearance. The president s action regarding john brennan and other former officials has nothing to do with who should and should not hold security clearances and everything to do with an attempt to stifle free speech. And that signal is inappropriate and deeply regrettable. The officials who signed this letter serve both republican and democratic president s and include people like petraeus. He was actually considered for a position by President Trump. On top of this 60 former cia officerses have written a letter oof their own also rebuking trumps decision. But the Washington Post reporting that none of this push back may matter because the white house has already drafted the documents needed to revoke even more clearances. All they need is the president s signature. So before we go any further i want to look at who issued these clearances and why they get to keep them even after they leave the government. What precisely are security clearances and where did they come from . Security clearances are issued by many Government Agencies come in several Different Levels offering access to sensitive or high level material and even if you have a highest level material, you will likely see only materials you need know about. Who gets security clearances . As a practicate matter they go to people intimately involved in the safety and defense of the United States and its allies. There could be infrastructure details or negotiations with other countries that might be considered highly sensitive and fall under this umbrella. All of this has to do with active government service. So why should anyone retain their security clearance . Former employees of an agency have Institutional Knowledge and the people who take over for them may need that. Say you worked on a classified matter and a new team needs to kn know what you did. And some do work that requires private citizens to deal with sensitive government matters. So havinging a security clearance outside the government can also be useful. So why would anyone lose their security clearance . Usually they no longer need it or for example they start working for a foreign hostile government or they just get into trouble. They commit a crime or theyre linked to an elicit or risky activity. But for criticizing or opposing a politician . No. That has not been a typical reason for such action. Back with us now, president al historian and special agent, josh campbell. Josh, whats your reaction to the Washington Post now reporting the president s team is readying further clearance revocation and all they need is a signature from the president. I think exhibit a in the case that this never had anything to do with National Security and this is simply petty politics. And the reason is because hes getting personal. To be sure brennan has been no fan of the president. But the fact you have the president of the United States now getting personal shows this an effort to discredit with respect to the Washington Post reporting we may see additional revocations coming down the line, i was certain that white house has on the shelf a list of topics they can grab to launch and distract anytime theyre facing uncomfortable news and i think now we see that. Weve seen the actual detail that we have people gathering information about former officials they want to revoke security clearances for and theyre waiting to time that just right. Something unfavorable to them that they can then launch, its petty politics. It has nothing to do with National Security. Think about the timing. They initially revoked john brennan during all of the drama around omarosa and her tapes and they put out a press release with a date for july 26th. What youre saying is you put two and two together, isnt too much of a stretch. But the president continues to deny thises to the do with free speech, that hes trying to silence people. If anything im giving him a bigger voice. And now he has a bigger voice and thats okay with me because i like taking on voices like that. Do you believe him. I think hes realizing that hes giving brennan more of a voice and thats something hes to the accommodate and explain in a backwards way. We are so far down the road with the president s dare licks of duties that i think we forget a president coming into office would have brought john brennan in and said what could you tell me about this . He would have enlisted the wise men and women at every rank and have them pursue this to the ends of the earth so we would all know what happened. But this is a president who puts himself above the country. Far more interested in playing defense than offense against russia. We have a spectacle of him violating the norms for all of the time that president s have dealt with security clearances and going after someone personally and politically and its disgraceful. I want to read you the president s official reasoning for revoke thing clearance. Brennan made quote unfounded and outrageous allegations, outbursts on ininternet and television. He also accuses him of lying and making frenzied commentary. Couldnt this describe things the president does . John brennans not loud mouth, donald trump is. We all know that. He has an incredibly distinguished career. Yes, he was very angry and upset when President Trump was in helsinki standing next to Vladimir Putin and dissed American Intelligence Services while praising the kgb. He seemed to be over and over again never willing to criticize putin, but always willing to make fun of, mock people in our justice department, cia, fbi. Brennan had enough and a right to free speech. 37 years in the navy, the purern who over saw the killing of osama bin laden. Hes one of our great s. E. A. L. S and reversing clearance on great americans, hes threating to do it to susan rice and James Clapper and many others is just beyond the pale and thats why so Many Americans are speaking out against donald trump. A total of nine people, by our count, are risk of losing their security clearance. Michael, all of these people speaking out. The dozen of intelligence officials. Does that make this president more or less likely to take away more . I think hes likely to do more. I think its true as josh said that there is a stack of these orders on a shelf someplace and next to that is a basket of additional tricks he is going to pull out when he needs distract and claim to be so oppressed by all of his enemies when in fact many of these folks have been incredibly restrained. Brennan waited a year before he said anything. And the alarms have been going off ever since trump came into office. So for him to go after these folks now is really just an example of his long practiced strategy of distraction, of doing so many things we cant keep track of them. But everybodys on to him, Everybody Knows what hes tkraoring. Thank you very much for joining us. Do social Media Companies discriminate . Are they making decisions based on political bias . Now the ceo of twitter is responding. Youre live in the cnn newsroom. How do you win at business . Stay at laquinta. Where were changing with contemporary makeovers. 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