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Former White House National Security Advisor Mark Short on Friday denied former President Trump’s recent allegations, saying the president could declassify the documents just by thinking about it, calling the idea “silly.” Stated.
“It’s plain silly,” Short said. CBS news“I think it would be very difficult for an intelligence agency to have a classification system if that were the case.”
Short, who served as former Vice President Pence’s chief of staff, added that he and the former Vice President have not acted on that basis.
Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday: The president can declassify the material just by “thinking about it.”
“As I understand it, no process is required,” Trump said. “If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying, ‘It’s declassified.’ Even if you think about it.”
The former president has repeatedly claimed to have declassified more than 300 classified documents recovered from his home in Mar-a-Lago after he resigned. Trump and the Justice Department are currently fighting in court over the document’s status.
Trump’s legal team faced backlash in court this week over declassification claims. Judge Raymond Deary, a special master who reportedly reviews documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago, said Trump’s team noted that the former president may have declassified the records. He appeared irritated at Tuesday’s meeting when he resisted his request to elaborate further on the submission.
The Court of Appeals also said this week, “The records contain no evidence that any of these records were declassified.” The court granted the Justice Department’s appeal to exclude classified documents from special master review.
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