we will cover the big news out of the justice department as. well the attorney general merrick garland announcing today that he's moving to unseal the warrant to search trump's home. but we start tonight with a truly gobs mouth getting new report from the washington post. here is it, fdr searches trump's home to look for nuclear documents and other items, sources. a quote, classified documents relating to nuclear weapons were among the fbi -- items ip agents sought in a search of former president donald trump's residence on monday, according to people familiar with the investigation. experts in classified information set the unusual search underscores a deep concern among government officials about the types of information they thought could be located at trump's mar-a-lago club, and potentially endanger a falling into the wrong hands. one former justice department official, who in the past oversaw investigations of leaks of classified information, said the type of top secret information described by the people familiar with the probe would probably cause authorities to try to move as quickly as possible to recover sensitive documents that could cause grave harm to u.s. security. the washington post goes on to david loft man -- counter-intelligence section, that investigates leaks of classified information that'll the paper, if that is true, it would suggest that material residing unlawfully at mar-a-lago may have been classified at the highest classification level if the fbi and the justice department believe there were top secret material still at mar-a-lago, that would lend itself to greater hair on fire motivation to recover that material as quickly as possible. in this report, the washington post also sheds new light on other kinds of sensitive materials that were already recovered from trump's home back in january. the national archives first realized that important documents were missing, quote, a person familiar with the inventory of 15 boxes taken from mar-a-lago in january indicated that signals intelligence material was included in them. the precise nature of the information was unclear. as the washington post notes and it's reporting, signals intelligence can include things like intercepted emails and phone calls of foreign leaders. there's a lot of information here. we will try to unpack a lot of it. we have some excellent guests to provide reporting and analysis for you about this story which has suddenly been the last hour become substantially more serious than it already was, and it was already substantially very serious. joining us now by phone is philip rucker, he is the deputy national editor at the washington post. he was the editor for this bombshell piece tonight. phil, i deeply appreciate you being with us tonight. i know it's a busy night for you and your colleagues. this is unbelievable information. we were all said to us find out at least some information by tomorrow by 3 pm, or maybe a little later, when the trump lawyers had to respond to the invitation by the attorney general to unseal the documents. but this is material that you and your colleagues have gleaned tonight a completely different nature. the sort of things they were looking for, and the connection to something to do with nuclear stuff. tell me what else you know. >> good to be with you. this is chilling brick or reporting by a team at the washington post, and a group of editors working on the story today that, among the items that fbi agents were searching for when they went to mar-a-lago in florida on monday, was documents relating to nuclear weapons, that is a big deal. as everyone listening knows. we don't know for example whether they were related -- to the documents related to document nuclear weapons belonging to the united states, or nuclear weapons belonging to another nation. perhaps reporting can shed light on that. frankly, those documents were covered by the fbi in the search. we know that one of the reasons they started the search warrant and went down to mar-a-lago with authorization from a judge to with [inaudible] safe and private quarters is because they were looking for the cost by talking as i had to do with nuclear weapons. >> i want to be very clear here, at the information, the reporting you're able to get, is that they were seeking for some of this information. not necessarily that they got the information. >> that is right. we can confirm, according to our sources, the fbi went to mar-a-lago in search of this information. we do not know, however, whether they actually recovered the documents that they were looking to find. >> there was some talk in trump circles tonight that the information that was sought, and or, recovered was the information that trump had declassified. that we would have to find out whether he did that while he was president, because the former president cannot take documents and decide to declassify them. if that were true, there would be some evidence of that somewhere, right? there would be some people trail, it would be accessible to you or me, but to people who make determinations about the control of classified information. that can exist. he can't just declassify information in the past. >> the way this works in the government is the sitting president has the authority, has the ultimate authority, on classification. and can make a decision to declassify documents, national security documents, that he or she sees fit. so any declassification that trump would've made what would have to have happened while he was president, once he leaves office, he obviously loses authority of the power. offi>> there was reporting in tonight's story, there was obviously reporting during donald trump's term in office that whether or not information is classified or not classified, there were allegations and examples during the trump administration of sort of the mishandling of highly classified information, and the fact that people reported that often these things would be in the hands of people who either had -- one have had any reason to have it, and certainly didn't have the pull of occasion to have it. so tell me how that fits in with the level of concern around classified national security related documents being at tomorrow logo. >> let's be clear about a couple of things, when he was president, donald trump was fairly loose with that information. there were moments when he would share classified information with foreign government officials, there were moments when he disclosed things that were classified and press conferences or other public forms. but when we are talking about classified information pertaining to nuclear weapons, that's a new level of sensitivity especially sensitive, and usually information about nuclear weapons is restricted to a very small number of senior government officials according to the experts that my gall colleagues interviewed for the story. so publicizing details about the u.s. nuclear weapons program or frankly the nuclear weapon program with any other country, provides an intelligence [inaudible] adversaries who are seeking to build ways to counter our systems or other countries systems. that's why there is such a heightened concern in the law enforcement and intelligence community about this documentation. that they believe was also at the former presidents residence. let's also remember. he does not live in a home, he lives in a large private club, mar-a-lago, where dozens, if not hundreds of people, come and go every day. it's a very public environment for documentation like this. to be existing. >> we do have examples in the past of people who either got into the club or got themselves invited in the club, or try to join the club, perhaps with some intent to get access to the president, and possibly, information that is not otherwise public. i want to read you one paragraph from the store and get your take on it because we are expecting that we are going to hear something tomorrow. because attorney general garland has moved to unseal the warrant, and he has said that donald trump's lawyers should have the opportunity to be consulted on this and make a decision whether they want that to happen. in the article, it says, if my prop book, the warrant will probably reveal a general description of what immaterial agents were seeking at mar-a-lago, and what crimes they could be connected to. a list of the inventory that agents took from the property will also be released. details could be limited, however, particularly if the material collected includes classified documents. which you are now reporting might be the case. in other words, we are not going to get an inventory of classified documents that were sealed -- seized, if they were. >> i don't anticipate that we will. and just to be clear, that -- the paragraph you just read, is our working assumption based on the expertise of the sources we talked to. but we have not seen the search warrant, obviously. or any of the documents that could become unsealed tomorrow. so it's difficult to say with any certainty what they will or will not show. but i think you are right, if there's any classified material, in those documents, it would be rejected. it's not something the government would out and be seen publicly. >> this was already an interesting story that got a whole lot more interesting thanks to your colleagues and their interpreted reporting. thank you philip rucker, he's the editor for the washington post. joining us now is the former director of the cia, john brennan. director, thank you for being with us, particularly on shore to notice. i want to start with the obvious question, how big of a deal is this? >> it's a big deal, ari. when i heard about this that there could be documents related to nuclear matters, whether it be our nuclear force structure, decision-making, practices and procedures, as well as presidential authorities, these are exceptionally sensitive documents that are restricted in terms of who has access. who can handle them. how they are storage, and to take them out of the white house i think is the height of recklessness and irresponsibility. when i worked with the obama white house as it is at homeland security adviser and deputy adviser, i had access to some of these documents. but when it became director of cia, i know longer had access to them, because i didn't need them. and because they needed to be held under tremendous lock and key. they are not even uploaded into top secret information systems. it's that sensitive. so i don't know what the department of justice and the fbi were looking for, but if it deals with some of the most sensitive documents, dealing with nuclear matters of the united states, our force posture, as well as the capabilities are allies, as well as our adversaries, this is, again, something that i can understand now why the department of justice and fbi, when into mar-a-lago to retrieve the documents. because they need to stay under 20 47 protection in heart and put facilities. and the fact that they can be accessed by people unauthorized, that can -- as well as who don't know how sensitive they are, this is something that had to be addressed. >> information that's that classified, you started to answer this question by talking about the fact that they are not uploaded to certain servers. they are hardened facilities. even people like the director of the cia, if they don't need access to certain information, they don't get access to certain information. all this leads to my next question. that this couldn't have likely been inadvertently, all that stick this in my file, i am leaving office. this type of information, someone would have to do work to get it out of where it is supposed to be? >> absolutely, and they would know what these documents were. absolthis is what is called a special access program. and there are special markings, this is above the taupe secret and code, they are special compartments and special categories that nuclear matters fall in. which is why they are so restricted in terms of who has access to them. so they are caught kept in very -- closely guarded areas in the white house complex, access to them requires someone to actually bring them to an office, and usually stay with them. and put them back under the special security procedures that must, must be enforced at all times. the fact that they got out of the white house and in mar-a-lago, again, if this is actual reporting. i don't doubt that the washington post is referring to nuclear related things, but there are some -- sensitive documents that go well beyond your traditional top secret concerns. >> there is reporting from some people that have some familiarity with us, the release of the publicity of these documents could cause, in the words of the washington post article, could cause great harm to u.s. security. talk to me, not knowing what this is, all we know is the word nuclear is and there is somewhere, we probably got to nuclear weaponry but we don't know if it's our nuclear weaponry, or the nuclear weaponry of an adversary, or an ally. what are the circumstances you would've known that as director of cia, what are the circumstances in which having that information exists out of its top secret, highly classified environment, is dangerous? >> obviously, our adversaries. specifically russia and china, would do anything to be able to gain access to these types of documents. because we give them insight, into what our capabilities, our particularly what our areas of vulnerable billet he might be, and, if anyone happen upon them, if they tried to find a user or a party that was interested in them, they could easily do that by going overseas. that's why these documents, this information is kept so highly tightly controlled because what you don't want to do is give our adversaries any additional information about what our capabilities are, which is why i'm sure the documents, the list of the documents that they are going after, or the text material, will only be generic in nature. but, i hope that the motion to unseal the search warrant is going to be granted because it will give people, especially those skeptics and the republicans in congress who have come out and lashing out against the fbi and the department of justice, those institutions that keep this country safe, i think is appalling but they have done so far. therefore, i do hope there is going to be at least some transparency into just how sensitive the material is without giving away any, any content of what is in those documents. again, this argument that we are hearing from some quarters already, whatever was he is was declassified. you can invent, that we can't just say, oh that pile that you got classified, i took care of that. >> i've been hearing this, the usual practice, and every president that i worked for, has called the practice of you go back to the agency that originally classified a document, or a program. and you seek their concurrence, and make sure that you do not do any a thing averted, or intentional damage national security by declassifying or documents. and then a president can make a decision. but for him to just say, arbitrarily, and you know laterally, these are declassified, these are any kind of nuclear documents, that would be the height of recklessness, irresponsibility, and would be gravely, gravely damaging, u.s. national security interest. and i think everybody should be outraged, if that is what occurred. >> if that is what occurred though, you and i have struggled for the last five years to figure out where the checks and balances have been in this administration. and what we did learn is that there were people and the intelligence infrastructure, and the defense department who are whistleblowers. who did say enough is enough, and this is dangerous. i would assume that this would be a trigger. right? if that happened would we know? would we know if donald trump had these classified information that by being declassified, would have pose a national security risk to america? would we ever find out if that's true? >> well who knows what document he may have taken out of the white house. clearly there were some, that's why the fbi and doj going after this. but there is supposed to be a record of every document that was declassified. and what i'm hearing from the trump people is that well, it wasn't recorded. well that allows trump and others to say after the fact, he just the cost by this. that is not the way national court is possibly manage and handled, and particularly overseen by the president of the united states. so i find that the argument is really quite speechless, oh i declassified it all. it would be reckless and irresponsible just by the wave of his hand to declassify information that could be put peoples lives at risk. could put very sensitive technical collections programs at risk. and could put the national security of the united states of america at risk. and that's why i am so glad that we are gonna get to the bottom of this and if there were documents that shouldn't been at mar-a-lago, i'm sure that the fbi will say look, you will be true whatever was. there >> as you know as the former government employee, we can't take stuff from the government. even stuff that you feel very attached to and very close, two very involved in, it's government profit, you can take. that before the last couple of days there has been some speculation that maybe donald trump took stuff away that he should have taken. that should've been in the archives. not all that serious. as we uncover more of this in the next 24 hours, if it becomes this serious, what's happened? what should happen? >> well i think donald trump should be treated like any other former government official. if they intentionally took documents, or took information out of the government, there is a highly sensitive of classified nature, i think there should be penalties for that. or there should be in fact charges brought to bear. now there are all different types of potential damage. there is some material that he may have taken out that is just some government property. and there might have been some classified information of the confidential secret level. but then this also the most highly sensitive, most highly restricted, and most sensitive information that the u.s. government and national security apparatus keeps control over. and if anybody from a lowly official, and the intelligence community, to the presidents of the united states, if they put those documents at risk, and they remove them from government facilities, i do think that that the department of justice has to make a determination about whether or not charges in fact should be filed. so i will leave it to those professionals who i i have great confidence in, and where we spoke, for at the department justice to make a determination about what should be taken if indeed, these documents are found at mar-a-lago. >> john brandon, we appreciate your time tonight, he is a former director of the cia. we are gonna have more on, this bombshell reporting from the washington post tonight, and some of the documents the fbi was searching for at mar-a-lago. relating to nuclear weaponry. the big news out of the justice department today where attorney general merrick garland announced that he is moving forward with an sealing the search warrant that was executed at trump's home. and an attack on the fbi facility in cincinnati. a lot to get here tonight. stay with us. stay with us [acoustic soul music throughout] [acoustic soul music throughout] [acoustic soul music throughout] [acoustic soul music throughout] [acoustic soul music throughout] one prilosec otc in the morning blocks excess acid production for a full 24 hours. unlike pepcid, which stops working after 9. 24 hour protection. prilosec otc one pill, 24 hours, zero 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