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Mind. the law allows very broad -- perhaps even broader than we like -- but the reality is very broad declassification authority. >> miles, that doesn't make sense. how can any president say, poof, you're declassified and never fill out any paperwork and not tell anybody that. >> i think we're going to have a national commission on this after the fact because both sides are going to be upset depending on the outcome of this case. but i've got to side with ellie here. i think it's egregious if donald trump left the white house with this information. you can see him saying in his early defense, ...

Other civilians should be held the basic argument at the end of the day, you know what? if the president does it, it's not illegal, especially if donald trump does it. >> i do want to talk about that because the process of declassification. is it what basically former trump is saying, which is you can wave a magic wand if you're the president and go, poof, you're declassified. is that how it works? >> constitutionally, yes, okay? the declassification authority rests with the chief executive. that's the president. the president is not just the head of the executive branch. he is the executive b...

But explain to us how it would work. can a president wave a magic wand or declassified something in his head without telling anybody? >> we don't have a lot of court cases on this but i believe it was the second circuit that did rule a president can't just say it's declassified and it is declassified without some process to inform people. president trump can't just say everything i had declassified in the residence. if they're not marked declassified and other documents with the same information aren't also declassified, did it really happen? if there's no record of it, how do you even know? t...

There has been added lots of debate over this freight what i your reaction to that statement in the characterization of the presidents ultimate authority t decide they are declassified fo it can get that's almost an ope and shut case. at the attorney general's purpose was to exert transparency, i will give him that. if his purpose was to strength, it fell flat big-time pair to how can you possibly run a case against the one official in our government who has full classification and declassification authority. are you going to quibble over whether he did it properly? that hasn't even been litig...

The fbi believes it has not gross negligence, but an intentional act by the former presidentme and that goes to ths defense. now, there's a lot thatde we hae to learn.n. you know, if he was declassifying material as we've beeneria told in the final days his administration, there is obviously a ripe opportunity for mistakes to be made by him, by his staff, by othersy. usually when you declassify a document, the markings are actually scratched out. there's a line drawnwn through them. so there's p physical changes on this on the face of these documents, whether that actually occurred or whether ...