good morning to you. it is friday, august 17th. i'm richard louie alongside frances rivera as well as louis bergdorf. ayman and yasmin have this morning office. we're starting with the woug post which reporting that president trump feels emboldened by stripping brannan of his security clearance. two aides adding that he feels a visceral disdain for the former director when he sees him on tv. white house officials said trump did not focus on his power to remove clearances until this summer. white house aide confirm that trump made his decision about brennan who serves as an nbc contributor. sarah sanders recommended they announce the action wednesday amid an onslaught of news coverage from former aide's omarosa manigault newsome's new