During MSNBC’s "The Cross Connection" on Saturday, The Nation’s Justice correspondent Elie Mystal demanded to know why former President Donald Trump was not "in jail" following the release of the heavily redacted affidavit justifying the FBI search warrant executed on Mar-a-Lago.
Speaking to "Cross Connection" guest host Jason Johnson, Mystal also mentioned that Trump’s alleged illegal retention of classified documents after his time in office represents "one of – potentially – the biggest national security breaches in national security."
The accusation-heavy segment began with the host asking Mystal what his impressions of the affidavit were after it was released on Friday afternoon.
Mystal didn’t dance around the subject. He declared, "My top-level expert legal analysis of the affidavit is, why ain’t this dude [Trump] in jail?"
FBI CRUSHED OVER HEAVILY-REDACTED MAR-A-LAGO RAID AFFIDAVIT: ‘NO REASON FOR RAID,’ ‘GRAVE TRAVESTY’
Speaking as if Trump had gotten away with multiple high-crimes, Mystal added, "Like what does this man have to do to go to jail?!" Johnson laughed as he listened to Mystal’s rhetoric, seeming to agree that Trump’s continued freedom was ridiculous.
Mystal accused "President Stickyfingers" of stealing "classified documents, top secret documents." "Dude had the ‘NOC List’ [Non-Official Cover List] from ‘Mission Impossible’ sitting in his basement," he said, referencing the 1996 Tom Cruise spy movie in which a list of the identities of U.S. covert agents is stolen.
Adding more "expert analysis," Mystal claimed, "We know about these [documents] because that was the probable cause for them to go search for more stuff that he wouldn’t turn over. So the ‘NOC List’ is what he was willing – after two years – to give back. We had to go raid him to get the stuff that he wasn’t willing to give back."
In dramatic fashion, the controversial liberal journalist then asked, "How is this man free?!"
Mystal eyed Trump’s defenders next. "People need to stop beclowning themselves by defending the president because he has no legal defenses, alright?"
He trashed Trump’s potential legal defense further, stating, "This argument that he declassified the documents, that’s stupid for many reasons. But specifically on the law, what we saw from the affidavit is that they’re not even going after him for mishandling classified docs, they’re going after him for illegally appropriating national defense information."
The journalist referred to this charge as a "separate section of the Espionage Act." He added that the feds can hit Trump with "up to ten years in jail simply for having national defense information that he wasn’t supposed to have."
Johnson picked up the conservation, claiming, "I’m not a lawyer but like, any of us would be in jail! If I left set with this computer right now and tried to hide it at my house, at some point they would come after me!"
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"And he’s dealing with national security documents," the host said, adding gravity to the situation.
After members of the Republican Party, specifically Karl Rove, who have claimed that Trump’s retention of documents was "a bridge too far," as Johnson put it, Mystal claimed it was one of the worst national security breaches ever.
"Well, I think what we’re seeing here is one of – potentially the biggest national security breaches in American history. I mean that’s not hyperbole," he declared.
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