According to former president Donald Trump, who spoke to Sean Hannity on Fox News on Wednesday, presidents may declassify records at any time, even if they are only "thinking about it."
Trump made an appearance on Hannity's programme to talk about the current federal inquiry into secret papers discovered at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence during an FBI search.
Link To Interview Video
"Is there a process? What was your process to declassify?" Hannity enquired.
"There doesn't have to be a process, as I understand it," Trump responded. "You know, different people say different things, but as I understand it there doesn't have to be."
"If you're the president of the United States you can declassify just by saying: ‘It’s declassified.' Even by thinking about it," to declassify anything. Even just contemplating it, "Added he. "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… I declassified everything."
Within the executive branch, information is prioritised using a classification system that normally uses three tiers: confidential, secret, and top secret. The information in a classified document may only be handled or disclosed to persons with the appropriate clearance levels.
The agency to whom the information relates is often contacted before declassifying a document. A designated "original classification authority" would then make a declassification request for the material, according to the New York Times.
Presidents do have the right to declassify papers on their own, but for a formal declassification to occur, the appropriate agencies must be notified of the decision.
Inside Mar-a-Lago, the FBI discovered around 100 papers that were classified in a variety of ways.
Trump's handling of the materials is the subject of a criminal investigation launched by the DOJ. Trump's claim that the records were no longer classified was refuted by a federal appeals court's decision to allow investigators to keep looking at the files.
Judge Raymond Dearie is reviewing the documents as a special master appointed at the request of Trump's legal team.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on Fox News.
