First, he suggested the FBI could have planted the top- secret material it found at his South Florida residence. The National Archives was moved to debunk the claim that Barack Obama did the same thing.
Trump is now claiming that he is a victim because he didn't do anything wrong. Trump said on Truth Social that he had already declassified everything that had been taken to Mar-a-Lago.
A statement was sent to Fox News by Trump's camp.
Everyone ends up having to bring home their work at times. The statement said that American presidents are the same.
In order to get ready for work the next day, President Trump would often take classified documents to the residence. When documents were removed from the Oval Office and taken to the residence, he had a standing order that they be classified.
The statement did not address the fact that Trump has not held the presidency in more than 18 months.
Statement from Trump Office: As we can all relate to, everyone ends up having to bring home their work from time to time… He had a standing order that documents removed from the Oval Office taken to the residence were deemed to be declassified.. pic.twitter.com/pnTjRnOqif
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 13, 2022
It's not clear if Trump followed the formal process for declassifying information.
He probably didn't have the authority to declassify information on spies and nuclear weapons. The Washington Post reported that there was information on the U.S. nuclear arsenal at Mar-a-Lago. Trump said the report was a hoax.
The 1978 Presidential Records Act requires presidents to hand over documents. Over a dozen boxes of documents were recovered earlier this year, as the National Archives was aware that Trump had been skirting those rules.
Garland suggested this week that authorities searched Trump's home and office because they couldn't find what they were looking for. FBI agents took more than 20 boxes of material along with other items labeled top secret on Monday. The documents were referred to as various classified/TS/SCI documents. The information is supposed to be viewed in a secure place.
It has not been made public that Trump ordered the declassification of anything he took home.
Trump allies believe that the classification status of these materials was probably a clerical error and that they were never formally marked that way.
Conservative attorney Jonathan Turley told Fox News on Friday that the end of Trump's term was a "very chaotic time." He said that the Trump administration might not have had enough time to go through the usual process.
The markings were never updated according to a top Pentagon staffer. The man said he was with Trump when he said they were declassifying the information.
The rules are there to be understood. The effect the declassification process has on national security was emphasized by a former FBI agent. She said that the process ensured that federal agencies could make the right preparations.
It offers time to protect sources or prepare for blowback if someone declassifies information.
Bradley Moss is a national security attorney and frequent Trump critic.
Moss said staff officials would have to follow him to the residence every time he brought the documents with him to make sure they were declassified.
It is not possible to declassify something for yourself. Neal Katyel, who served as an acting solicitor general of the United States in the Obama years, said that it should be declassified.
According to Alex Wellerstein, a nuclear historian, the ranks of classification are supposed to correspond to how damaging the information would be to the nation. Wellerstein said that if Trump had a document that said the U.S. acknowledges that Israel has a nuclear arsenal, it would be very damaging. Israeli nukes are not officially acknowledged by the U.S.
The point is not whether or not the Mar-a-Lago materials were classified or de classified.
The Department of Justice was looking into Trump under a number of statutes. Barb McQuade, a former U.S. attorney and legal commentator, said that there was no requirement for the information to be classified.
Classification isn't relevant. McQuade said that government documents that pertain to the national defense may not be turned over to the person requesting them. The obstruction charge indicates that Trump tried to hide something.
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