Former President Trump sat down to an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday and explained that there is no formal process for a president to declassify documents and they can do so “even by thinking about it.”
Trump has repeatedly stated that he declassified documents taken from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago estate when he left office. Many of them were ostensibly destined for his presidential library. Despite the assertion, the FBI raided his home in Florida, seizing his passport, medical records, tax records, and even his will along with documents they contended were classified.
“There doesn’t have to be a process, as I understand it,” Trump told Hannity clapping back at the FBI’s excuse for raiding his home. “If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying, ‘It’s declassified.’ Even by thinking about it.”
“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,” he asserted. “I declassified everything.”
(Video Credit: Fox News)
The interview came just hours after a federal appeals court ruled that Justice Department attorneys could continue looking at the documents marked as classified that were taken from Mar-a-Lago during the August raid.
The emergency ruling overturned a trial judge’s order, which blocked federal investigators’ work on the documents until they could be reviewed.
During the interview, Trump threatened to release security camera footage of agents ransacking his house but intimated he would pixelate their faces to protect their identities, according to the Daily Mail.
Presidents have broad power to declassify records. In this case, it triggered leftists in the intelligence agencies who saw an opportunity to go after him. Other former presidents have never been treated in such an outrageous manner but Democrats are desperate to stop Trump from running in 2024 in any way they can and the raid is seen by many as yet one more attempt to accomplish their goal.
right before his interview with Trump, Hannity appeals to Garland and Chris Wray and says, ominously, "we are headed down a very dark path." Trump praises his comments and thanks him. pic.twitter.com/Ez5aGq4hWH
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 22, 2022
Trump’s legal team has noted the former president’s right to declassify records. The media is making a huge deal of his attorneys not actually stating that he did so which is a weak contention at best.
The Department of Justice also seized on the issue and pointed out that the attorneys were insinuating he had the right to declassify documents, not fully contending that he actually carried through doing it, according to The Hill.
According to Trump. the General Services Administration (GSA) and other White House staff were responsible for packing up boxes at the end of his tenure with pictures, newspaper articles, and other materials included in the mix.
Hannity interviewing President Trump tonight! He said the FBI took his medical records, attorney/client documents and his Will! What the hell!! This is disgraceful!
— New York Deplorable🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@DeplorableNew) September 22, 2022
“The GSA also works with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), as necessary, to provide support to the former Presidents in the establishment and maintenance of their libraries,” the organization explains via its website. “These services are only provided in the event of a change of Administration.”
During the interview with Hannity, Trump railed against New York Attorney General Letitia James after she launched a $250 million lawsuit against him, accusing him, his children, his associates, and his businesses of fraudulent activities.
Letitia James literally promised when she ran for Attorney General that she would take down Donald Trump and the best she could do was a civil suit. 🤣🤣
— Ryan Fournier (@RyanAFournier) September 21, 2022
He also excoriated President Biden for “dismantling” his achievements in the White House, specifically concerning illegal immigration and the catastrophe at the border.
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