EXPLAINER: Declassification in spotlight during Trump probe

Published September 22, 2022 2:36 PM

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the weeks since the FBI searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and seized about 100 documents with classification markings, the former president has insisted he had declassified the information. He made that point again in a Fox News interview Wednesday when he said a president can declassify material just by thinking about it. Experts say that presidents do have broad authority to declassify material, but there is a detailed process unlike what Trump described. Even if the documents were declassified, that may not be a defense against any criminal charges that could come from the August search.

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