Following the FBI raid at his Mar-a-Lago residence, a spooked Donald Trump claimed that he had a “standing order” that automatically declassified documents he took home. But many of his former administration officials are calling the former president’s claim “rubbish.”
As reported by CNN, more than a dozen former top Trump administration officials have refuted Trump’s claim that he had a “standing order” stipulating that classified documents automatically became declassified when he took them from the Oval Office to his White House residence.
After federal agents recovered multiple boxes of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago, Trump and his allies have claimed, among other excuses, that the former president had a “standing order” in place that declassified them.
According to 18 officials from his administration who spoke to CNN, however, no such order was ever issued. The officials reportedly laughed or scoffed at the notion. One called it “bullshit.”
Former Trump chief of staff John Kelly told CNN that “nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given” during his tenure.
“And I can’t imagine anyone that worked at the White House after me that would have simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed that order to go forward without dying in the ditch trying to stop it,” he added.
Kelly’s successor, Mick Mulvaney, also said he was not aware of any such order.
Olivia Troye, who was a homeland security adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, called the idea of a blanket declassification “ludicrous,” and former national security adviser John Bolton called Trump’s claim “a complete fiction.”
The documents the FBI sought from Mar-a-Lago were reportedly very sensitive in nature and included materials related to nuclear weapons.
A president does have the authority to declassify documents, but there is a formal process involved, and there’s no evidence that Trump followed that process.
The “standing order” excuse is among a rotation of other explanations that Trump and his team have offered following the search. Trump has also claimed without evidence that any damaging materials found by the FBI must have been planted on his property.
