Former United States President Donald Trump claims that American presidents can simply declassify sensitive documents even just by "thinking about it."
The Republican businessman's remarks come as the latest statements he made in relation to the FBI's seizure of classified records from his Mar-a-Lago estate. He claims that his powers were so broad that he could declassify such documents using only his mind.
Declassifying With His Mind
However, that argument, which he used to defend his decision to retain the government documents in his Florida home, underscored a widening gap between him and his lawyers. The latter has so far been unwilling to repeat their client's declassification claim in court, as they counter a federal investigation into his handling of government documents.
In the past week, a federal appeals court in Atlanta, along with Trump's choice for a special master to review the documents, undermined a bulwark of the former president's effort to justify his actions. However, both suggested that there was no evidence to support the claim that the former president had actually declassified everything, in writing, verbally, or wordlessly, despite his claims, as per the New York Times.
The special master, Judge Raymond J. Dearie, on Thursday, also appeared to take aim at another of Trump's excuses. This was that federal agents had planted some of the records when they searched his Mar-a-Lago estate.
In an order that was issued after the appellate court had ruled, Dearie instructed Trump's lawyers to let him know if there were any discrepancies between the documents that were kept at Mar-a-Lago and those that the FBI said it had seized.
According to the Washington Post, in an interview, on top of Trump's claims of declassifying the documents, he also said that there did not have to be a process. This comes as prosecutors said that roughly 100 of the documents taken from Mar-a-Lago were marked classified, including some labeled top secret.
Trump's Continued Legal Battles
Trump said, "If you're the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it's declassified. You're the president, you make that decision." His remarks also followed an announcement earlier in the day that New York Attorney General Letitia James was filing a lawsuit accusing him and his three children of fraud.
The former president called the lawsuit part of a politically motivated "witch hunt" that has been brewing since he first ran for office. He claims that if there were discrepancies about his property values, the banks should have done more diligence, adding that his company provided a disclaimer on financial documents saying as much.
On the other hand, Dearie said that if Trump's lawyers do not affirm the records have been declassified and that Justice Department makes a legitimate case that they remain classified, then "as far as I'm concerned, that's the end of it."
On Wednesday night, Trump's legal team was dealt another blow when a federal appeals court granted a request by the DOJ to allow investigators to resume review of the roughly 100 documents marked as classified, CBS News reported.
Related Article: Appeals Court Allows DOJ To Resume Probe of Classified Documents Recovered From Trump's Mar-a-Lago Estate
