Insecure: President Trump revoked the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan, a pointed critic of the President who has questioned his judgement, fitness for office, and basic human decency.

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanderssaid Trump took Brennan’s clearance because he is among a group of former officials who have transitioned into “highly partisan” people.

Brennan tweeted in response, “This action is part of a broader effort by Mr. Trump to suppress freedom of speech & punish critics. It should gravely worry all Americans, including intelligence professionals, about the cost of speaking out.”

Be the judge of what is partisan. After Trump described his former aide Omarosa as a “dog,” Brennan tweeted to Trump, “It’s astounding how often you fail to live up to minimum standards of decency, civility, & probity. Seems like you will never understand what it means to be president, nor what it takes to be a good, decent, & honest person. So disheartening, so dangerous for our Nation.”

In making the Brennan announcement, Sanders said Trump is also reviewing the security clearances of other former officials who have been critics of the President. Among them, though, is a current high-ranking Justice Department official, Bruce Ohr, a Trump target because of his association with Christopher Steele, who compiled the infamous campaign dossier containing damaging information about Trump. Sanders wouldn’t say why Trump doesn’t just fire Ohr rather than take his clearance, which makes him unable to do his job.

Stable Genius:President Trump rarely grants interviews, but he spent about 20 minutes with the Wall Street Journal’s Peter Nicholas, who says, “Several times Mr. Trump interrupted the conversation to summon aides to the Oval Office to share charts showing his endorsement record and to discuss the size of his following on social media.”

Nicholas says the focus of his interview was Trump’s trade tariffs, but the President also talked about how the Special Counsel investigation has been discredited, as though it was someone other than the President himself who’s been doing the discrediting.

The Manafort Play: In spite of clear evidence of tax evasion and bank fraud, the defense in the Paul Manafort trial claimed in closing arguments that their client was indicted only to get him to flip and give evidence in the Special Counsel investigation of Russian election influencing. Manafort for a brief time was the Trump election campaign chairman.

The prosecution presented evidence during trial that showed Manafort hid millions of dollars in income to avoid taxes and lied to banks to get them to loan him money. Prosecutors protested the defense argument and the judge told jurors to ignore statements about the motivation for indicting Manafort.

Free Press, Free Speech: More than 200 American newspapers today are running editorials decrying President Trump’s attacks on the press in a coordinated effort to fight back led by The Boston Globe.

The Chicago Tribunesays, “His attacks on journalists exemplify his tendency to bully and humiliate. There’s a direct line between his reluctance to shame white supremacists, his insertion of himself into other people’s disputes (the national anthem at football games?) and his relentless attacks on the press: His primary concern is his own popularity, his control of the moment.”

The NY Timessays, “These attacks on the press are particularly threatening to journalists in nations with a less secure rule of law and to smaller publications in the United States, already buffeted by the industry’s economic crisis.”

Many of the editorials said the paper debated whether to stay silent or fight back. Jack Shafer writes for Politicothat, “This Globe-sponsored coordinated editorial response is sure to backfire: It will provide Trump with circumstantial evidence of the existence of a national press cabal that has been convened solely to oppose him. When the editorials roll off the press on Thursday, all singing from the same script, Trump will reap enough fresh material to whale on the media for at least a month.”

Taking the Cake: The same Colorado baker who won a Supreme Court case that upheld his right to refuse to make a wedding cake for a gay couple has refused to make a cake for a transgender woman and taken his case to federal court. Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colo., said in his complaint that making the cake “would have celebrated messages contrary to his religious belief that sex — the status of being male or female — is given by God, is biologically determined, is not determined by perceptions or feelings, and cannot be chosen or changed.”

Just Great:New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo made one of those statements yesterday that will be misquoted for the rest of his political career. At a New York event he said, “We’re not going to make America great again. It was never that great.”

The rest of what he said, which no opponent will ever include in a political ad: “We have not reached greatness. We will reach greatness when every American is fully engaged.”

Respect:Well-wishers are reported to be flocking to the bedside of soul queen Aretha Franklin, who’s believed to be in her last days in hospice care. Franklin has been in declining health for years and cancelled some concerts earlier this year. Franklin is so popular that her fans are described as “pre-mourning” her death.

Downer:One man was arrested in New Haven, Conn., after 46 people became ill after using synthetic marijuana called “K2” sold in a downtown park. It happened at a park bordering Yale University. Some people fell unconscious and others vomited.

Time Passes: Madonna is 60 years old today.