Really being a little bit forceful on this issue, because the president is, according to our sources, still very much interested in dealing with some of the other individuals that they identified earlier this week whose clearances are going to be reviewed. He is interested in stripping them of their clearance. First of all, one of the issues that they are dealing with at the white house is that they are getting pushback from some unexpected quarters. Admiral william mcraven, someone who doesnt often speak out about issues of the day, he was one of the architects of the bin ladens raid. I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance so i can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency. We asked the white house counselor Kellyanne Conway this morning about mcravens comments in this oped. She declined to answer. She focused on john brennan. Here is what she had to say. Why is everybody so obsessed with the president of the United States that they cant begin or finish a sentence without mentioning his name. Its weird. Its affecting people on the news who fancy themselves security experts. He had that clearance for a long time. I think chairman burr said it best. If you said there was russian collusion, why didnt you tell us when you were oath . As you heard there, Kellyanne Conway asking us why were so focused on the president . I think the answer is simple, because hes the president of the United States. More to the point about the security clearances, they are focusing on john brennan and what they are characterizing as his lack of credibility. The question remains, how are they going to evaluate the other folks on the list, some of whom are involved in the russia investigation . What are they going to use to determine whether or not their clearances ought to be stripped. Abby, thank you for the reporting from the white house. Have a good weekend. Unless the president says something, and then you are coming back here. Bob baer joins me now. Were waiting to hear from the president. Maybe he will speak to reporters as he walks across the south lawn in a few minutes. Help me understand the significance, for example, of admiral mcravens oped, the man who is so respected, the man who led the bin laden raid, calling the president out like this. Saying it would be an honor if you strip my security clearance, because i am speaking out against your presidency. Whats the significance of that . Its huge, poppy. Mcraven is well respected, special forces community especially, an admiral, decorated. For somebody who is very conservative to come out against the president like this, so strongly, it tells you that this pulling brennans clearance theres no justification, first of all, is a political act, free speech, First Amendment and the rest of it. The National Security establishment is starting to revolt in a big way. Pulling his security clearance for being too political, you know, is a political act. Rudy giuliani says this list of the nine people who we know have been very outspoken against the president or are part of the russia probe in one way or another is not an enemy list. This is case by case. Here is what he says. The basis for having it, meaning clearance, is the president is going to call on you for advice. If that doesnt exist, theres reason for you to have clearance. Is that true . Its not just the president. Its current cia officials, current intelligence officials who might need your expertise on something. Now you cant give it to them. And former president s as well. They keep their security clearances. Theres no justification for pulling it. The only reason you would is if this was unauthorized disclosures. John brennan knows a lot more about the russian investigation. He hasnt said a word about it. The National Security agency, for instance, has intercepted hundreds of phone calls of russians talking about it. John brennan hasnt alluded to it. The president is scared brennan and the others will come out with more facts that will he did, bob. He did in that New York Times oped yesterday morning. He went pretty far. He didnt lay out evidence, but he said its hogwash to say theres no his word, hogwash, theres no collusion. Some are pointing to that as going too far when muellers team has not yet come out with their conclusion. What do you think . Calling it hogwash is a political statement. But he hasnt come out unauthorized disclosures, sources and methods, intelligence, thats not public. He has not crossed that line. Hes very careful. He knows what he is doing. Bob, nice to have you. Thanks for being with me. Thanks. Lets talk more about this, doug high is here, former rnc communications director, jackie kosinich also joins me. Nice to have you both. Jackie, the reporting we are learning more and more about, why the president did this, why he did it now, right, when the letter was originally dated two weeks ago and it is because, according to the reporting, that the white house wanted to change the narrative away from the omarosa and race conversation this week, but the Washington Post reports that the president feels emboldened by this, this fight plays out well for him politically. Does it . I think among certain people it does. There isnt any real consequences for the president with his base. Its making him look strong after omarosa spent a week making him look weak. They cant control her. This is something the president can control, because its very much in his purview to do this. Now the reason the intelligence establishment, as others have said, is revolting against this is because why it happened. Its not because he was actually concerned. This was meant as a distraction to make us talk about this. Its worth talking about. Im not saying its not. How this was used as a political tactic to change the subject is disturbing for a lot of people, both inside the Intelligence Community and outside. Is this a good fight for republicans to be part of, doug, 81 days away from the midterms . If you are running and asked, do you agree with President Trump on almost everything, do you agree he should have stripped brennans security clearance, the clearance of these nine folks, does that put republicans in a tough spot . The overwhelming majority will back him. I think he raised good questions about brennan. Thats where a lot of the republican members can go. If you look at what else happened and what we have not been able to talk about, we have had great Economic News in youth unemployment, in retail sales, in productivity. Instead of things about looking tough and speaking to your base, this great Economic News and the trump administration, to be clear, has a lot of great Economic News that it can talk about, that speaks to the public. Thats what republican candidates want to be talking about. Its the message they want to drive home, especially when we come out of labor day in the final weeks of the campaign, they would rather talk about this than a he said she said with omarosa or he said he said with brennan and donald trump. Theres another tape. Im not going to play it in the interest of time. Thank you. There are 200 according to the New York Times. So buckle up. Who knows. Jackie, theres another one. Its a conversation with lara trump about whether she would come on the campaign or not after she was fired from the white house. A warning like, you wouldnt be able to say anything negative about the whipresident and the white house. What would be best strategy for the white house if there are 200 tapes and they keep dripping out . Is it to i dont know that this is a white house or president who can ignore. Thats the thing. In theory, it would be to ignore her. I think it might be too late for that. The president cant help himself but engage. Remember, two days ago, three days ago, the president was advised to ignore the book coming out, not to weigh into this. He cant help himself. I guess we just have to buckle up and see. Maybe he will ignore some of them, if there are 200. This is causing chaos, because the people in the white house dont know who is on tape. That in and of itself is really is causing unrest. Didnt he teach her this . Is this not the lesson of how to be a Brilliant Media strategist . Oh, yeah. Shes a product of the trump organization, of the art of the deal. Everything that goes into it. Shes beating him at his own game right now. Shes a huge distraction for the white house. Before you guys go, doug, i want your take on something that the rnc did overnight, because you used to run communications for the rnc. Whoever has your job ryan mahoney, hes a very good guy. I want to know what you think of this strategy. That is to compare alexandra ocasiocortez, a 28yearold latino, who is a democratic socialist, but they compared her to the dictator in venezuela and put out an email saying shes a this is comparing her to someone who has human rights abuse allegations, torture allegations. A bridge too far . Would you have done it . I wouldnt have. The hard problem is when you are doing a lot of negative attacks, which is a big part of what the job at the rnc is. It was true when i was there. Its true for my predecessors and people who could come after. Its very easy to take that one step too far than you would. I would say, aoc does not need help from the rnc or any other organizations in bringing National Publicity to herself. She does that very badly or well depending on your perspective. Let her rise or fall on her own merits. Thank you. Nice to have you both. Right now, the jury in Paul Manaforts trial is deliberating. This is under way for a second straight day. Yesterday, jurors had some very interesting questions for the judge. We will walk you through those and take you live outside the courthouse. President trumps military parade was supposed to happen this year. Now its not. Why was it canceled . Who canceled it . Also, not only was Aretha Franklin one of the worlds entertainers, she played a crucial role in the civil rights movement. We will talk a lot more about all she did for this country ahead this hour. At ally, we offer lowcost trades and highyield savings. But if thats not enough, we offer innovative investing tools to prepare you for the future. Looks like you hooked it. And if thats not enough, well help your kid prepare for the future. Dont hook it kid. 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Dinner date. Meeting his parents dinner date. Why did i want a crest 3d white smile . So i used crest. Crest 3d white removes. 95 of surface stains in just 3 days. For a whiter smile. That will win them over. Crest. Healthy, beautiful smiles for life. We do have breaking news now out of turkey regarding an american citizen. A Turkish Court rejected an appeal from the american Pastor Andrew Brunson who has been held there since 2016. An appeal to return from house arrest. Brunson has been held there for two years accused of helping plot an overthrow of the turkish president. His arrest is at the heart of the dispute between the u. S. And turkey that has been escalating by the day. The Trump White House levied tariffs on turkey, threatening turkey more and more with more sanctions if they dont let brunson go. They say the aellegations are unfounded. The Turkish Court rejecting that appeal. The jury in manaforts case has started its second day of deliberations. The jury yesterday sent a note to the judge with four really interesting questions. Perhaps the most interesting, define for us reasonable doubt. Lets go outside the courthouse. Jessica schneider is with me. How did the judge define reasonable doubt for them . Reporter that was the one question that the judge actually answered out of the four. The judge put it this way. He said, reasonable doubt, its not beyond all possible doubt. You could have a little bit of doubt. Its just beyond reasonable doubt. Whether or not that explanation was sufficient for the jury, who knows. But they are back deliberating. They started at 9 40 this morning. That question as to reasonable doubt, it really goes to the heart of this case and any case for prosecutors. Prosecutors have to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense team, they spoke after the proceedings yesterday outside the courtroom. They said that they were very pleased with these questions from the jury. That could be because they started off their Closing Argument stressing to the jury what high burden reasonable doubt actually is. They are probably pleased that the jury is asking this question, wondering how much doubt is too much doubt to convict. Maybe wondering how much doubt they can have and still convict. This question kind of making us all wonder, what is the jury thinking, poppy. Everyone is wondering that this morning. Before you go, let me get you on this. There were a lot of moments during this trial when there were bench conferences. The lawyers from both sides went up to the bench to talk to the judge privately. They turn on this sound machine so the jurors cant hear what they are talking about. News organizations are fighting to have those unsealed. Something is going to happen on that this afternoon. What is it in. Reporter thats right. The jury is still deliberating. There will be a hearing at 2 00 p. M. A lot of the news organizations want to unseal the transcripts about the bench conferences that happened in secret. We will hear what the judge might unseal. Its important to note on friday, there were five hours of secret proceedings. Everyone wondered what was going on between prosecutors, defense and the judge. If these were unsealed, we might finally know what happened in those five hours, particularly interesting, poppy, the judge said today when he announced this 2 00 p. M. Hearing, he put it this way. He said, a thirsty press is essential in a free country. Of course, this is a judge that has been very outspoken throughout this trial and really quite a contrast from what we heard from the president who constantly calls fake news. This judge saying, the press needs to know and we will have this hearing at 2 00 p. M. Today to see what they will know in unsealing some of the transcripts. There you go. Thanks for the reporting. Paul callen is with me, our legal analyst. Five hours plus, that was just one day. So many hours of this basically secret conversation between the two sides and the judge. It sounds like he will release this to the public. If it were not released, would muellers team be privy to that . Would they get it . Is the only way they get it if the public gets it . They get it in the sense that one of their attorneys was there for the hearing. But they dont have the transcript. But you can be sure the lawyers made detailed notes about it when they stepped out of the conference. Thats a very lengthy conference to stay secret in the course of a trial. Occasionally, you approach the bench. You have a short argument about a motion and then you return. This suggests something very serious and probably confidential information that muellers team doesnt want released. Back to the jury deliberations. We know that the defense feels good right now. They came out and they told the cnn cameras, this is good news, the jury came back with these four questions. Do you see it that way . Is it good news for manafort . When i was a prosecutor, the two words that frightened me the most were reasonable doubt, because Defense Attorneys always say, theres reasonable doubt all over the case. When the jury comes back and says, could you define reasonable doubt again, judge, you know that they are focused on that. However, i would issue this warning. When you see jurors ask questions, sometimes, it doesnt always mean that the whole jury is interested in this. A lot of times it means there are one or two holdout jurors and the majority of jurors are saying, all right, lets have the judge tell you what reasonable doubt is. You are wrong on it. Its hard to read these tea leaves. They are good questions for the defense overall, because it wasnt only reasonable doubt, they also asked for a definition of what a Shelf Company is. I would like a definition, too. This is about the banking in cyprus and the companies and how this all works. These charges are really complicated charges. The Shelf Companies are companies that you form a company, but you dont do anything with it. You put it on the shelf for when you might need it. Then you activate the company as was done here and run money through it. The prosecutors are saying this is part of a scheme to avoid payment of income taxes through the use of Shell CompaniesShelf Companies. Thats a good question for the prosecutors. The other question that was asked which is one they will be happy with, they wanted the exhibits sent in to the jury room. Why is that important . Remember at the beginning of the trial, they were showing pictures of the ostrich coach a and the judge said, no. If they ask for them, we will send them in. For the first time, they will see the 21,000 watch and all of the other things that are kind of