To borrow from monty python is not dead yet. The reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. Our thanks to senator hatch for that and a little more fun with that later. But we begin with the president. He speaks to veterans later this hour in kansas city, a most patriotic of settings at a moment of a debate that rings anything but patriotic. Maybe its a serious proposal. Maybe its a trumpian shiny object meant to steer the conversation away from the president s helsinki disaster or something else. Whatever the motivation, this is an eyepopping threat. Not only is the president looking to take away brennans security clearance, hes also looking into the clearances of comey, clapper, hayden, rice, and mccabe. The president is exploring the mechanisms to remove security clearance because theyve politicized and in some cases monetized their Public Service and security clearances. A bit earlier this morning, the House Speaker paul ryan says its all a stunt, dont listen to the white house. I think hes trolling people, honestly. This is something thats in the purview of the executive branch. I think some of these people have already lost their clearances. Some people keep their clearances. Thats something the executive branch deals with. Its not really in our purview. I think hes just trolling people. Clever, maybe, but thats also a cop out, which is to say nothing new today from the Republican Leadership in congress. Administration sources dont really know if the president is serious here. But once source tells us the boss, quote, likes this debate. Cnns jeff zeleny is live at the white house. Jeff, take us inside this. Is it distraction . Is it trumpian threat . Or is it real . Reporter john, i think all of the above or none of the above. Its one of those things we dont know. The reality is you must treat it seriously because it was spoke frighten the white house podium by the White House Press secretary saying it is an idea, a potential policy of this administration, of your government here. Thats why this is being taken seriously. Notice when you were playing the clip there of Sarah Sanders at that briefing yesterday, she was asked the question because of course it was first raised by rand paul after meeting with the president , but she was ready for that question and she called out people by name. She was reading from her answer, which means she had a conversation with the president before that briefing, and they want this to be out there. I talked to a Senior Administration official whos trying to explain this. They said the president is more than comfortable with this debate. Hes more than comfortable with how all of this is playing out. He believes its a new fight, if you will, and lingering feud with old obama officials, all of course who are connected with russian meddling. We see the president in kansas city. Hell be speaking with veterans of foreign wars at that convention, which so many president s have gone to. But boy, this is a different moment. Is he serious about this . We dont know. Weve heard the president talk about so many different threats and moves on to something else. Well see if he actually goes through with it. But it is a topic of discussion. It came exactly a week after that helsinki summit, so it definitely changed the conversation somewhat. But well see if theyre serious. Well see if he talks about it today in kansas city. Certainly not the venue for this type of conversation normally, but hey, john, whats normal these days . Interesting perspective at the end there. Jeff zeleny at the white house. Appreciate it. With me in studio, Maggie Haberman of the new york times. Jonathan martin, also of the new york times. And cnns abby phillip. Four of the best reporters in the business at the table. Yet, im going to start by asking you to read minds. On the way to this speech, to the veterans of foreign wars in kansas city, the president of the United States tweeted this. Im very concerned that russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on the upcoming election based on the fact that in president has been tougher on russia than me. Theyll be pushing very hard for democrats. They definitely dont want trump. At least hes acknowledging russia is attacking our democracy and thats progress. But that would be kind, i think. Where do we think this is coming from . I think it continues to be opposite day or opposite month at the white house. Last week it was theres no reason why he would believe it was putin. Then the next day it was no reason why he wouldnt believe it was putin. I think this is the president telling people to believe something other than what theyre seeing and hearing with their own eyes and ears. We know that last week Vladimir Putin was asked specifically about whether or not he wanted trump to win, and he said, yes, i did. So this is not something that the president can erase with a simple tweet, but it wouldnt be the first time hes tried to do Something Like that. Literally just saying the opposite of what people are seeing and hearing and thinking and believing. Well, putin himself said it. One of the hallmarks of the Trump Campaign first and certainly the presidency, but the campaign most starkly, was he would say different things, sometimes contradictory things in the same sentence. People would basically have a choose your own adventure of what they wanted to hear. I think thats a part of this. Yes, hes sort of acknowledging that russia is trying to interfere until the next time when he doesnt do it. Theres no consistency, and theres no guarantee that what he says here has any staying power. How about if youre going to were supposed to take this seriously after 18 months. How about a cabinetlevel meeting chaired by the president in which he says to everybody, do everything you need, spend every dime. Stop it. Youre watching the president on the tarmac in kansas city. On his way to the vfw for a big speech. But that assumes this is something besides a pr strategy, which i think is all this is. Whats striking about this episode is here we are a week after helsinki, and unlike the past trump eruptions where they tend to fade after a day or at the most two or three days, hes still in the batters box trying to figure out a way to get past this. He tried the iranian tweet. He tried with Sarah Huckabee yesterday in the briefing room, taking back the security clearances of the obamaera officials. Now hes trying this next gambit. It is striking hes trying to find a way to turn the page still over a week later given his success in the past at creating some kind of fresh chum. Part of the problem is that this was a big problem for him in helsinki. This is not something you can erase with one tweet or one day of trying to correct the record. So he feels the need to do it over and over because it keeps coming back. Helsinki is a stain that i dont think is going to wash out. I think the president s coming to realize that, which is why again we started the conversation with jeff zeleny about this idea that you would take away the security clearance of people who are criticizing you. Now, some of these people have been unusually political. We dont normally see former cia directors like john brennan involved in daily political conversations. But weve also never seen a president like this. The white house says theyre monetizing their security clearances. How . Produce the facts. This white house using the word monetizing is interesting. But is it anything but . We would normally write it up. He attacks the free press all the time. Now hes attacking people using their First Amendment rights speaking out saying is d disagr with the president. John brennan used the word treasonous. Thats a strong word. James clapper said he thought putin played the president. Where does this rank in terms of public actions . Standing at the white house podium saying you spoke out against the president , you say things he doesnt like, hes going to take away your rights and privileges. I think this ranks pretty high. Its once again another example of this white house taking something for which there is a process, for which people have Due Process Rights, the ability to grant or revoke clearances and saying were going to put it in an entirely political framing in which its all about political grievance directed at the president. Were going to revoke your ability to have some sort of any sort of, you know, Due Process Rights around that issue. I think this white house doesnt ever mind those kinds of optics. Whether or not this is done or not, whether or not he ever carries this out, i think the idea that they dont mind the optics of the president punishing his political enemies because of grievances is problematic, and it really flies in the face of what i think people have taken for granted in this country, which is just the norms of Democratic Leaders acting in a way that people understand across party lines is pretty consistent. These are people, some of them, who actually did serve in republican administrations. Theyre not totally partisan animals. Its not like taking away their security clearances is going to take away their tongues. Theyre still going to be able to talk. Some of these people dont have clearances active anymore, number one. Number two, even if they did, you had general hayden, whos not just an obama appointee, say im still going to keep on talking. I agree with abby totally. This does rise to a different level of i mean, its fine if the House Speaker wants to shrug this off as trolling. Im sure president obama had done it, it would not have been met with that kind of shrug. Fox news, which is the president s favorite channel, employed all kinds of people with security clearances. Mike flynn had a security clearance when he was chanting lock her up at the Republican National convention. I dont know why being political the elephant in the room when theyre talking about this is the fact this white house has had problems with security clearances over and over and over again, including for two people related to the president , Jared Kushner and his daughter ivanka trump, both of whom have been accused of monetizing their roles there. To invoke the haberman doctrine for a minute, if i could, is trump lives in tenminute increments. Basically, he on a focus day. Yes, exactly. Its about surviving. Hes looking for ways to survive the next news cycle. Thats everything to him. When rand paul walks into the white house and says, you know, all these guys are out there criticizing you. You know, mr. President , they still have security clearances. We should yank those. Trump doesnt run that through an inner agency process. He walks over to his press secretary and say, lets do this. Thats going to give the press some new chum. Here we are talking about it today. But to me, its all a pr strategy. What to me is more striking than trump trying to buy ten more minutes of survival is the ryan reaction that you showed. That is a big reveal as to what something everybody at this table knows it true. A lot of people on capitol hill in both parties dont take the words of this president all that seriously. A lot of people around the world, not just on capitol hill. For ryan to basically say it, the speaker of the house whos now a free man because hes not running again, but for ryan to say it so directly that, oh, hes just trolling, thats extraordinary to hear that. Usually we hear that off the record, the background eye roll. But ryan is saying it with the cameras running. He still holds the office of the president of the United States. This threat sounds more like he leads turkey or the philippines, not like he leads the United States of america. Were going to take a break here. Sorry, just one mans opinion. As we mentioned, President Trump speaking to veterans in kansas city. Hes on his way to the speech venue. Also just ahead, the message about to be delivered to farmers here in the United States hurt by the president s tariffs. Were from the government and were here to help. Whoooo. You rely on tripadvisor so you dont miss out on the perfect hotel. But did you know you can also use tripadvisor so you dont miss out on the best price . Tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites to find the hotel you want for the lowest price. Saving you up to 30 so you can spend less time missing out. And more time paddling out tripadvisor. Visit tripadvisor. Com or download the app gimme one minute. And ill tell you some important things to know about medicare. First, it doesnt pay for everything. Say this pizza is your part b medical expenses. This much about 80 medicare will pay for. Whats left is on you. Thats where an aarp Medicare SupplementInsurance Plan, insured by Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company comes in. This type of plan helps pay some of what medicare doesnt. These are the only plans to carry the aarp endorsement for meeting their high standards of quality and service. So call Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company today and ask for your free decision guide. With this type of plan, youll have the freedom to choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. And when you travel, your plan will go with you anywhere in the country. Whew call unitedhealthcare today and ask for your free decision guide. Moments away now from a speech the president will give to veterans of foreign wars in kansas city. Meanwhile, a Major Economic and political decision by the white house back here in washington. One that reminds us just how far this president wanders from traditional republican philosophy. The Administration Today will announce a plan to offer billions in aid to American Farmers adversely affected by the president s trade war. Just this morning, the president was tweeting, quote, tariffs are the greatest, but the complaints from farm states are off the charts and republicans from those states are worried the anger back home will impact their odds come november. So the administration will use trade relief, the agriculture department. Its smart, shortterm politics. Its just fascinating you have a president who pulls the party from its freemarket approach and imposes these tariffs. Speaker ryan this morning calling them taxes. Now theyre essentially going to use deficit spending to bail out these farmers. I cant find that in my republican platform. Keyword is bailout. We used to hear from small government conversations about how bailouts were terrible. It is interesting that paul ryan has been, as we contrast with his trolling, but tariffs is the one issue that ryan has consistently spoken out against. Its something he clearly does not share a view with the president , as we know. But it is striking. It is another area where republicans in congress who are supportive of the president will go to sort of contortions to not be at odds with him on certain issues. I also think its its such a reflection of trump economics. Totally. Which is pick winners and losers, intervene where you feel you want to intervene. If theres a problem, pay for it. Throw money at the problem. I remember having a conversation with a county chair in eastern iowa last summer right at the point when the chinese threatened on the soybeans. Hes a very strong trump supporter. I said, isnt this going to be a problem . He said, you know what, the amount of money that its going to involve for the farmers, he can write a check for that. The government can pay the farmers, no big deal. Thats exactly the way its been played out. I get that. The farmers process that. The republican politicians certainly this is a case where you have the Trump White House responding to pressure from republican politicians, which it doesnt always do. But then how do you get it to a different trading system if the chinese or the europeans or the canadians and mexicans, whoever were talking about, know that i just have to hold fast. Theyll spend government money to bail out their people. I dont have to change my policy. How do we get a deal here . You dont. It just continues to escalate. This is why people who are economists, which i am not, say that trade wars are bad. Because they continue to escalate over and over and over again. The president doesnt understand that as far as we can tell. He continues to talk about trade deficits as if they are losses on a ledger, which theyre not. But the result i think the result for republicans is maybe less political peril and more a longterm loss of the foundation of the party. Once youve lost this, what is left for the Republican Party . What do they stand for . Its a great trump populism is taking the party far away. To maggies point about taking away security clearances, the speaker tries to crack a joke, they try to move on. Say pay no attention to the president s words. If youre paul ryan, from the state of wisconsin, this is the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel headline today. Harleydavidson sales slump as u. S. Motorcycle business falters. Whirlpool first said these tariffs would help us. Then the aluminum tariffs came in. Now washing machine prices are up 20 . Thats why you have the speaker in this case, not just the speaker but rank and file republicans as well, saying, mr. President , youre wrong. The president says tariffs are the greatest. In all caps. The goal hes trying to achieve is a good one. A better deal for americans, better trade agreements. I just dont think tariffs are the way to go. Our members are making that pretty clear. Its farmers this time. Whats next . Is Mitch Mcconnell going to ask for help for bourbon makers, followed by automakers. Where does this go . Individual companies. This is a president who literally wants to decide on an individual company basis who wins and who loses. Harleydavidson is his friend last year. This year theyre his enemy. He wants competitors to succeed over them in this domestic business. This doesnt work from an economic pe