The documents the former president brought to Mar-a-Lago were declassified.
The power to instantly declassify government documents was given to Trump by his presidency.
Leon Panetta said there is a thorough process for declassifying.
A Donald Trump ally claimed that the former president had the power to immediately declassify government documents.
Leon Panetta, who served as defense secretary and CIA Director under the Obama administration, told Jake Tapper that there is a process for declassifying confidential government information.
Panetta said that if a president wanted to declassify it would have to be referred to the agencies that were responsible for the classification. There is something to say as to whether or not that material should be classified.
There is no indication that this president took a formal step to declassify anything. He said that this is pretty much BS right now.
Panetta commented after a former Pentagon official claimed that Trump had declassified all the documents he took to Mar-a-Lago.
As can be seen in a clip shared by Mediaite, the president had the power to "literally stand over a set of documents and say 'these are now declassified.'"
Most Americans don't know that President Trump has the power to declassify.
FBI agents seized about 20 boxes of items from Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida during their raid last week, including 11 sets of documents that were marked top- secret and designated to remain only in a secure government facility
According to a statement read out on Fox News, Trump had a "standing order that documents removed from the Oval Office were deemed to be declassified."
He didn't follow procedure to do that.
Federal departments and agencies have the power to classify and declassify information.
It is very rare for a president to declassify documents without going to other government authorities.
The representatives for Trump did not reply immediately.
Business Insider has an article on it.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
