Trump Claims Magical Declassification Powers As Archives Discloses Contradictory Docs To Special Counsel

(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

"I had every right to under the Presidential Records Act. You have the Presidential Records Act. I was there and I took what I took and it gets declassified," Donald Trump told CNN's Kaitlan Collins last week during CNN's televised town hall when asked about the classified documents seized in September at his Mar-a-Lago club. He then seamlessly pivoted to a racist lie about President Biden.

"Biden, on the other hand, he has 1,850 boxes. He had boxes sent to Chinatown, Chinatown, where they don't speak even English in that Chinatown we're talking about," he went on, swatting away efforts by Collins to factcheck him.

When asked if he had shown the classified documents to anyone, he said "Not really. I would have the right to," and "not that I can think of."

He went on to falsely assert that he was legally entitled to pocket classified documents on the way out of the White House and store them in his pool shed.

Adding, "and, by the way, they become automatically declassified when I took them."

This can hardly have been reassuring to the former president's lawyers, one of whom noped out yesterday -- but not before testifying to Special Counsel Jack Smith's grand jury investigating the documents case. And Trumplaw is probably more than a little dyspeptic over new disclosures to the grand jury by the National Archives.

CNN reports that acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall informed Trump in a May 16 letter that she plans to transmit a further 16 documents to the grand jury which "reflect communications involving close presidential advisers, some of them directed to you personally, concerning whether, why, and how you should declassify certain classified records."

In essence, she's going to supply the grand jury with proof that Trump knew perfectly well that there's a procedure for declassifying a document, and it doesn't involve throwing it in a box and waltzing out the door.

CNN reports that Trump has tried to block disclosure of these documents, but the Archivist intends to transmit them on May 24, "unless prohibited by an intervening court order."

According to the letter, Trump tried to block the special counsel from accessing the 16 records by asserting a claim of "constitutionally based privilege." But in her letter, Wall rejects that claim, stating that the special counsel's office has represented that it "is prepared to demonstrate with specificity to a court, why it is likely that the 16 records contain evidence that would be important to the grand jury's investigation."

It's not clear if Trump's lawyers will take a flyer at Judge James Boasberg, the chief in the District Court in DC, who has been no more receptive to Trump's privilege claims than his predecessor Judge Beryl Howell. So far, they've had zero luck there, and Hail Mary passes to the Supreme Court have failed to hit their target.

And anyway, they seem to have their hands full with media appearances at the moment. Here's Trump's lawyer Jim Trusty explaining how Trump didn't ignore Justice Department subpoena, he was just negotiating compliance for five months.

Sidner: If I ignored a subpoena, there would be hell to pay
Trusty: Well, you also don't have the powers under The Presidential Records Act.. and I'm pretty sure you're not president right now pic.twitter.com/nQR2UeLzqU

-- Acyn (@Acyn) May 18, 2023

"If I did that as a citizen, there would be hell to pay," said an incredulous Sarah Sidner.

"Well, you also don't have the powers under the Presidential Records Act for declassification. And I'm pretty sure you're not -- not president right now," shot back Trusty. Then he quickly pivoted to the Durham Report (LOL) implying nefarious "ends-justify-the-means behavior" by the FBI before Sidner could point out that Trump was also "not president now" in June of 2022 when his representatives presented a Redweld full of classified documents along with an attestation that Trump's people had searched and found no further restricted material on the premises -- which is not exactly a "negotiation."

Pretty weird how the special counsel keeps swatting these lawyers aside like gnats every time they buzz into court demanding to assert executive privilege on their client's behalf, huh?

Exclusive: New evidence in special counsel probe may undercut Trump's claim documents he took were automatically declassified [CNN]
'Who's Lying Here?' CNN's Sara Sidner Confronts Trump Lawyer Over Bombshell Admissions at Town Hall [Mediaite]

Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics and appears on the Opening Arguments podcast.