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On the heels of the controversial search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home, reports have recently surfaced that within the 26 boxes officials left with, more than 300 were unclassified documents. These include materials from the FBI, CIA and National Security agency on “topics of national security.” Straight Arrow News contributor Rashad Richey breaks down Trump’s defenses and the confusion even amongst his own legal team:
So let’s look at the defenses here for Donald Trump. Giuliani goes on television, Rudy Giuliani, former attorney for Trump — lost his law license because of his affiliation with Donald — he goes on TV and says, “Well, you know, he was just preserving the records. He was just preserving confidential information. He was preserving classified information.” Well, that’s an admission of guilt, Giuliani. Because what you’re saying he did, he’s saying he did not do. While you’re saying that he was, in fact, in possession of classified documents, his camp is saying he was not.
Here’s the spin from Trump’s camp: Trump’s camp is presenting that the documents were actually declassified because of some standing order that nobody knew about — what Trump said while he was president — If he took the documents, they were declassified. Nobody heard this standing order. Nobody knows about it. And frankly, over 18 people associated with the former Trump White House say it never happened, it’s a complete lie, a fairy tale, fantasy, made-up.
So Trump wants us to believe that he declassified the information. Keep this in mind — declassification does not simply exist for the president, meaning if something is declassified, it’s declassified for everybody, meaning you and I can now have access to it. He did not declassify the information nor did he want it declassified. He had the opportunity to actually declassify this information while he was president and when he was exiting the White House. He chose not to, you know why? Because if you declassified the information, it loses its value. A secret is only valuable because only a few people are aware. So why would you think — why do you think — the former president of the United States chose not to declassify this information? That’s the question.
