CNN Guest Warns Trump Vulnerable to Espionage Charge Over Classified Docs: ‘He Clearly Knew’ It Was Wrong

National security attorney Bradley Moss broke down Donald Trump’s legal exposure in light of the news that the former president is on tape admitting he retained classified documents after leaving the White House.

Moss joined CNN This Morning on Thursday to discuss the network’s reporting that federal prosecutors obtained a recording of Trump talking about a classified Pentagon document in his possession. Trump reportedly spoke of being unable to discuss the document because he no longer possesses the presidential power to declassify it, not only contradicting his claims against any wrongdoing but also his claim of being able to declassify documents with merely a thought.

In his assessment of the matter, Moss emphasized that it speaks to Trump’s intent that he knew the documents were classified and disseminating them was forbidden.

“This underlies and undercuts the potential defense issue that he was going to raise of he had automatically declassified it or he didn’t know,” said Moss. “No. He clearly knew, and that is knowing and willful retention of national defense information. That is the espionage provision right there.”

When asked what a charge against Trump would look like under the Espionage Act, Moss acknowledged the former president “has a slight bit of truth in his statements” as far as his power to declassify while he was still in office. Trump’s team has failed to show that the declassification happened through the proper channels, however.

The courts have weighed in saying there has to be proper declassification. Every single time it’s been handled, there has to actually be the demarking, the documentation of the declassification. He can’t just walk off with it as he flew down to Mar-a-Lago and say it’s declassified. It’s not the way it works. He understands a small bit of the legal theory and he is taking that to the extreme and that’s going to be his undoing here.

The segment continued with Moss snarking at Trump’s lawyers attempting to defend him despite the potential ethical issues they would face if they tried running with the ex-president’s arguments in court.

Watch above via CNN.