Speaker 1: Our daily Bloomberg Law Brief, now exploring legal issues in
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Speaker 1: More at a d R dot org. Well, today we
Speaker 1: turned to the story that was gripping Washington and the
Speaker 1: White House before news of that memo from former FBI
Speaker 1: Director James Comy came out last night. That's the Washington
Speaker 1: Post report that President Trump revealed classified intelligence documents to
Speaker 1: Russia's top diplomat during a meeting last week. For the
Speaker 1: legal implications of that story, Bloomberg Law host Student Grosso
Speaker 1: and Great Store speak to Stephen Vladik, a professor at
Speaker 1: the University of Texas School of Law. Steve, before we
Speaker 1: get deep deeper into the details of federal law law,
Speaker 1: let's just get to the bottom line. Is it possible
Speaker 1: that Donald Trump broke the law? So I think it's
Speaker 1: possible he broke the law, and I think it's the
Speaker 1: most important point for folks to take away is what
Speaker 1: he actually did is not what's being described Um. So,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of folks, you know, saying that
Speaker 1: the president has the power to declassify whatever information he
Speaker 1: chooses to declassify. That may very well be true. That's
Speaker 1: not what he did, um right. And we know that
Speaker 1: because if the President had declassified the information he you know,
Speaker 1: apparently told to the Russians, the Washington Post would then
Speaker 1: have reported it, right as to say, the Post would
Speaker 1: have then told us exactly what it was. It's still classified.
Speaker 1: What happened here was the President authorized the Foreign Minister
Speaker 1: of Russia, the Russian ambassador of the U. S. And
Speaker 1: whoever else is in that room to receive this class
Speaker 1: that information. You know, that's a very different legal question
Speaker 1: than whether the president can you know, going forward, for
Speaker 1: all purposes declassify national security secrets. Is it also a
Speaker 1: question he was not only declassifying national security secrets, but
Speaker 1: he was declassifying our allies secrets. That's a great point.
Speaker 1: I mean, so I think that's relevant both legally and
Speaker 1: um politically. So legally, you know, it's very possible that
Speaker 1: we have formal agreements with foreign intelligence agencies, including whichever
Speaker 1: foreign intelligence agency was responsible for the information issues here,
Speaker 1: that actually limits the circumstances in which any US official,
Speaker 1: including the president, is allowed to share information that we
Speaker 1: receive from that foreign intelligence agency. Frankly, would be surprising
Speaker 1: if we didn't have that kind of an agreement. So
Speaker 1: it's possible that the president's disclosure, you know, also violated
Speaker 1: that kind of of legal constraint, but also optically, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think the real problem is here. Even if President
Speaker 1: Trump didn't break the law, that damage this does to,
Speaker 1: you know, the prospect of trying to ask other foreign
Speaker 1: intelligence agencies to share information with US going forward, frankly
Speaker 1: as mind boggling. That is Stephen Vladi, a professor at
Speaker 1: the University of Texas School of Law, speaking to Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Law host John Grusso and Greg's store. You can listen
Speaker 1: to Bloomberg Law weekdays at one BM whilst time here
Speaker 1: on Bloomberg Radio. That is this Morning's Bloomberg Law Brief.
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