Trump baselessly claimed he could have declassified documents just by thinking about declassifying them

During his time in office, Donald Trump claimed, he could have declassified top- secret documents if he had thought about it.

During a lengthy sit-down interview that aired on Wednesday night, Trump was asked if there was a process that he went through to get the documents found at his Mar-a-Lago home.

The FBI seized 11 sets of classified documents when they raided Mar-a-Lago in August.

"You know, there's different people saying different things, and there doesn't have to be a process," Trump said.

That does not have to be. You can declassify if you're the president of the US. Think about it. It's because you're sending it to Mar-a-Lago or somewhere else.

He claimed that he understood that there could be a process to declassify documents, but that it didn't apply to him because he was president at the time.

The president makes that decision. It's de classified when you send it. Trump said that he believed the National Archives and Records Administration was run by a left-wing group.

—Acyn (@Acyn) September 22, 2022

It is not correct for Trump to say that he has a relationship with Hannity. There is a process for getting documents declassified that involves proper documentation.

Leon Panetta, an Obama-era defense secretary, told Jake Tapper in August that there is a procedure involving paperwork from multiple agencies to get confidential 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.

Trump's lawyers are trying to get rid of the information they have to give.

In a letter to Judge Raymond Dearie, who was appointed, upon Trump's request, as a third-party neutral investigator, the former president's lawyers asked that he not have to hand over evidence about declassification. Dearie told Trump's lawyers that they can't have their cake and eat it.

A federal court has given the go-ahead to investigators to resume their review of classified records seized from Mar-a-Lago, after a successful application by the Department of Justice.