Former President Donald Trump insisted on Wednesday that presidents can declassify top secret documents with their minds.
Trump has been claiming, without evidence, that he declassified the documents FBI agents found at Mar-a-Lago during the raid last month.
Asked about this during his interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday Trump claimed that presidents can declassify top secret documents telepathically.
“I did declassify,” Trump told Hannity.
Asked to describe the declassification process he went through for the top secret documents found at Mar-a-Lago, Trump answered: “There doesn’t have to be a process, as I understand it.”
“You know, there’s different people, say different things,” he added. “If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying, ‘it’s declassified’ even by thinking about it.”
“You’re sending it to Mar-A-Lago or to wherever you’re sending it. There doesn’t have to be a process. There can be a process, but there doesn’t have to be. You’re the president, you make that decision, When you send it, it’s declassified. I declassified everything,” he said.
FBI agents conducted a search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home on August 8 and seized more than 11,000 documents, including about 100 that had classification markings. Trump and his allies insisted that he declassified the documents but they are yet to provide evidence to support their claim and Trump’s lawyers are not making that argument in court.
