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That they shouldn't be considered sensitive because he was able to make them public and therefore they lose their sensitivity. how does that actually work? let's say he's being honest about that, does that bar him from legal liability? >> no. it's complicated. he has, while president, the authority to declassify. he can wave a wand and declassify most things. not stuff related to atomic energy or nuclear authorities, that he cannot do unilaterally. mostly he has the authority to declassify things unilaterally. normally there's a process and there's an office that keeps track of that stuff. but...

President, to declassify or classify material, at 12:00 noon on -- on the 20th of january, he lost that power. so, he was sitting on hot documents down there. and it's a very interesting question. it raises national security issues. so, i think the justice department just can't look away this time. they have got to take at least some look at this issue. >> as a former-white house counsel, john, top secret is no joke. i mean, let's remember jared kushner reportedly couldn't even get top secret security eaeaeae,ntil trump overruled intelligence officials so the idea trump took documents out of t...

And really cheat to help win reelection. if we allow this to happen we will be sending a bad message to this president who has engaged in pattern of this behavior. and the same message to future presidents and that's dangerous for the democracy. >> one of the interesting things the nol thing in terms of the history. the investigation into what the president did and who else was involved in what was entailed in this scheme is ongoing. we got a dramatic reminder of that. the intelligence committee released to you some classified information about the vice president pence and his communications w...

Authority directly from the president to declassify, they called it at the time quote full and complete authority to declassify government secrets. that was unusual. is that suspicious in this context? in other words, why does trump trust barr so much more than anyone else? >> to the whole thing is strange. we keep hearing the word unprecedented. this really is unprecedented. look, obviously, the president has the ultimate declassification authority. the president can choose to declassify anything he wants to. if the president truly thought this was nothing to hide in any of the conversations,...

At the same time we have this new investigation by william barr for yell parallel or expan investigation and importantly on holiday weekend eve getting the power to supercede and supplant is director of national intelligence to decide what can be declassified about the origins of the russia probe. >> it's clear the only reason you would have an executive order giving the attorney general the power to declassify intelligence if there was a mass ifr fight. if barr was investigating, there's no reason to have the power to declassify. the only reason you have the power to declassify is to make a p...