and tonight, a new secret recording of a member of the trump family and an offer you can hear on the recording. here's abc's chief white house correspondent jonathan karl tonight. >> reporter: at a cabinet meeting today, president trump refused to answer questions about his decision to revoke the security clearance of former cia director john brennan. >> mr. president, is it appropriate for you to punish your critics? >> reporter: in his initial statement read by press secretary sarah sanders, the president said his decision was prompted by brennan's, quote, erratic conduct. >> mr. brennan's lying and recent conduct characterized by increasingly frenzied commentary is wholly inconsistent with access to the nation's most closely held secrets. >> reporter: sanders said a range of other trump critics could be stripped of their clearances, too, and for the same reasons. but in an interview with "the wall street journal," the president offered an entirely different explanation, saying he was going after those former top national security officials because of the russia