News broke on Thursday that not only did former President Donald Trump take White House documents with him to Mar-a-Lago, he also potentially took some material that was classified.
Some legal analysts have said that Trump would be unlikely to get indicted for this, however, because as president he is allowed to declassify any intelligence he sees fit.
But national security attorney Bradley Moss argues that things are not that simple, as the president must go through a specific process when it comes to declassification and he cannot simply wave his hands to render top-secret national security secrets as public knowledge.
"No, a president can't 'verbally' declassify a document without further action," Moss writes on Twitter. "No, a president can't declassify a document in his head."
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Moss also added that "a former president can't take classified documents with him outside of secure control mechanisms."
This led him to a simple conclusion: "Indict him."
In a separate interview with CNN, Moss explained that while the declassification process is far from arduous, a president must at least do some formal paperwork before something is declassified.
Moss also outlined key questions that need to be answered about Trump's use of the documents.
"Did he know?" Moss said. "When did he decide to put those documents there? And did he take any action to declassify them before he left office?"
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