Trump Claims a President Can Declassify Documents Just ‘By Thinking About It’
Donald Trump claimed the president of the United States can declassify government documents simply by declaring them as such, or “even by thinking about it.”
In August, FBI agents executed a search warrant at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where they found thousands of government documents Trump was supposed to give to the National Archives upon leaving office. Some of the material is classified.
Trump has publicly claimed he declassified all the documents. However, his attorneys have not dared to make that claim in court as they tangle with lawyers from the Department of Justice in the case.
Appearing on Wednesday’s Hannity, Trump told Sean Hannity he declassified the documents and that there isn’t much to the process – or lack thereof – as he understands it.
“A president has the power to declassify,” the Fox News host stated. “You have said on Truth Social a number of times you did declassify.”
“I did declassify, yes,” Trump said.
“Is there a process?” Hannity asked. “What was your process?”
“There doesn’t have to be a process as I understand it,” Trump replied. “If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying, ‘It’s declassified,’ even by thinking about it because you’re sending it to Mar-a-Lago or wherever you’re sending it. And there doesn’t have to be a process. There can be a process but there doesn’t have to be. You’re the president. You make that decision. So when you send it, it’s declassified. I declassified everything.”
The Department of Justice and many legal experts dispute Trump’s claim.
“There’s no indication that Trump actually ever declassified these documents,” explained former White House counsel for ethics Norm Eisen on CNN on Tuesday. “The reason [Trump’s] lawyers have never said in a court filing that the documents were declassified is because they would be subject to penalties themselves, ethics penalties, penalties of the court if they said something that isn’t true.”
Former Trump White House communications director Stephanie Grisham said there is in fact a process for declassifying such material.
“You don’t just say the words, ‘These are now declassified,’ and it’s done. There is a process. And more importantly, people, agencies would need to be told,” she said. “The CIA, the DOJ, the FBI, the people who have sources and methods out there. They would need to know that, ‘Hey, these documents are suddenly declassified,’ so that they can move those sources around.”
Watch above via Fox News.
