Rattled by the FBI raid at his Mar-a-Lago resort and the subsequent release of the search warrant and the list of classified documents seized by federal agents, Donald Trump and his is struggling to come up with a sound strategy to avoid a likely indictment.
The warrant was issued in order to protect critical nuclear weapons documents. But Trump’s new defense is that the documents are now in the public domain and the entire world is free to view them.
In a statement read on Fox News by far-right writer John Solomon Friday evening, Trump claims: “As we can all relate to, everyone ends up having to bring home their work from time to time. American presidents are no different. President Trump, in order to prepare for work the next day, often took documents including classified documents from the Oval Office to the residence.”
“He had a standing order that documents removed from the Oval Office and taken into the residence were deemed to be declassified,” the statement added.
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“The power to classify and declassify documents rests solely with the President of the United States. The idea that some paper-pushing bureaucrat, with classification authority delegated by the president, needs to approve of declassification is absurd,” the spokesperson concluded.
To be clear, the president does not have the power to unilaterally declassify nuclear weapons information.
Watch:
Statement from Trump Office: As we can all relate to, everyone ends up having to bring home their work from time to time… He had a standing order that documents removed from the Oval Office taken to the residence were deemed to be declassified.. pic.twitter.com/pnTjRnOqif
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 13, 2022
