a much more politicized position. i don t think there s any question that the president has the right to pull security clearances. that authority is very clear. that said, i do worry about the fact that john is now in the political arena and two, at the same time, i don t agree with the president pulling it. i am concerned about the whole issue of free speech and as long as john is not revealing classified information that he shouldn t, then i certainly think he has a right to speak. as far as the russia investigation is concerned, i think bob mueller will get through that. complete it. and we should rely on him for what actually happened. chris: i want to ask you a question a lot of people have asked me this week which is why should a former official, any foreign orformer official, keep his security clearance after his work for the government?
deliberations. what do you think of the president s comment and how important is this case and the verdict that comes down for the special counsel investigation going forward? i think it is remarkable with the presidents them. i think it was inappropriate. but that could be said about half the things he says these days. but you are right, there was a time when presidents didn t weigh in in the middle of a jury deliberation. chris: if they did, they got hammered. it was inappropriate in those cases and this is inappropriate. if it bears a guilty verdict, i think that will create a sense of momentum behind the mueller investigation. i don t think there s any question. if there isn t, i think there will be further pressure from the president and his allies on mueller to wrap this up and cut
i will not let you put this on the media. president trump has been talking about a shutdown. this is not generated by us. it s generated by the white house. that s fair. i m just fascinated that folks always to talk about a shutdown but the only shutdown we had were caused by senate democrats. this is the president s position on this. i was in the oval office when he communicated this to the leaders of the house. we re spending way too much money. we had to give the democrats a bunch of money to get the national offense funding during that last omnibus. no more omni buses and number two, i don t think he should spend all this money because we don t need to. but if you do, i would like to have my priorities funded. that s a reasonable position for the president to take. chris: i m asking aspecific question. is there a lot in time , september 30 will he push this off until after the midterms? we will continue to go
cia director to say about the president? i think for john, john s an extraordinary servant of the country. but i think he has been incredibly critical of the president and i think that has put him in a political place which actually does more damage for the intelligence community which is a political, even as he s retired. i don t support him being as critical of the present as he has been. the question of force is whether we are blurring the lines between politics and intelligence. i want to put up a statement that brennan said in an op-ed in the new york times after his security clearance was cleared. here it is. mr. trump s claim of no collusion, or in a word,
a much more politicized position. i don t think there s any question that the president has the right to pull security clearances. that authority is very clear. that said, i do worry about the fact that john is now in the political arena and two, at the same time, i don t agree with the president pulling it. i am concerned about the whole issue of free speech and as long as john is not revealing classified information that he shouldn t, then i certainly think he has a right to speak. as far as the russia investigation is concerned, i think bob mueller will get through that. complete it. and we should rely on him for what actually happened. chris: i want to ask you a question a lot of people have asked me this week which is why should a former official, any foreign orformer official, keep his security clearance after his work for the government? for a long time, former