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Good morning. I'm Allison Michaels with The Washington Post and this is the Daily

202 for Monday, August 20th.

James is on vacation, but I'll be here said Sunday that he's willing to take President Trump to court to prevent other current

and former officials from having their security clearances revoked.

That statement from Brennan escalated a battle over whether the president is misusing the power of

his office to retaliate against opponents. Brennan, who was among Trump's most

outspoken critics, had his security clearance abruptly revoked by the White House last week.

Since then, Brennan said Sunday, a number of lawyers have gotten in touch with him and offered

advice on pursuing a possible injunction to prevent Trump from taking similar actions in the future.

On Friday, 14 former CIA directors and deputy directors from Republican and Democratic

administrations,

as well as a former director of national intelligence,

called Trump's revocation of Brennan's clearance

a blatant attempt to stifle free speech

and to send an inappropriate and deeply regrettable signal to other public servants.

Number two, Darren Beattie, a White House speechwriter for President Trump, was terminated last week after revelations that he had spoken at a conference

attended by well-known white nationalists.

...