MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan Has A Newsflash For Trump On How The Presidency Works

"A sitting president can't just say 'I declassify you' while waving his hands over a file folder."
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MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan advised Donald Trump and his allies Sunday that the law doesn’t work quite the way they claim it does.

In wake of the FBI’s search of the former president’s Florida Mar-a-Lago residence, Trump’s team has claimed, without providing evidence, that he declassified all the documents found there before leaving the White House.

Hasan showed a clip of Kash Patel, a former Trump administration official, declaring on Fox Business earlier Sunday that Trump “can literally hand over a set of documents and say ‘these are now declassified.’”

Presidents can declassify certain information, but there is a formal process for doing so, and it is not clear whether Trump followed it.

“Sorry Kash Patel, Trump appointee turned children’s book author,” Hasan said. “A sitting president can’t just say ‘I declassify you’ while waving his hands over a file folder. It doesn’t work that way.”

Trump reportedly may have taken sensitive government documents, including those relating to nuclear weapons, to his Palm Beach resort. He is being investigated for a possible violation of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice, and removing and destroying official documents, according to the FBI’s search warrant.

Watch Hasan’s full segment below.

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