Ex-Watergate prosecutor accuses Trump of using Nunes memo to leak classified intel to Russia for a second time

Appearing on MSNBC Friday morning, a former Watergate prosecutor accused President Donald Trump of using the memo created by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) that criticizes the FBI as a way to provide confidential information to the Russians for the second time of his presidency.

Speaking with host Hallie Jackson, prosecutor Nick Akerman went so far as to state that the only person who will ultimately benefit from the release of the video is Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Following a clip of former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper calling the memo written by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) a “blatant political act” intended to smear the FBI, Akerman was asked for his opinion on the document expected to be released on Friday with Trump's approval.

"My reaction is this is extremely significant," Akerman explained. "In fact the only party that's going to gain anything out of this memo appears to be the Russians. because they're going to have classified information about sources relating to our FISA process, how we go about doing the FISA process."

Akerman went on to say that he expects actual revelations regarding the FBI attacks on Trump to be a "dud,"  adding it doesn't prove anything."

"But it is going to help the Russians and it is the second time that Donald Trump has released top-secret information to the Russians as he did in the Oval Office when he met with the Russian ambassador.

"But, wait a second," host Jackson asked. "What about the Republican argument that this is about transparency. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) says it's not about Robert Mueller, the special counsel, it's not about [Assistant AG] Rod Rosenstein, this is about getting information out to the American public. Is there any benefit at all in your view?"

"None, zero," Akerman scoffed. "This is not about transparency -- you don't have transparency when you have information that is top secret information. Being able to function and being able to function against known threats, such as the Russians -- that's the whole problem with this."

"There's no transparency, otherwise you wouldn't have documents labeled top secret," he concluded.