Several officials laughed at the idea. A senior administration official called it “bullsh*t.” Two of Trump’s former chiefs of staff filed briefs to refute the claim.
“Nothing even close to such a stupid order has ever been given,” said John Kelly, who served as Trump’s chief of staff for 17 months from 2017 to 2019. “And I can’t imagine anyone who worked for the White House after me have simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed this order to go ahead without dying in the ditch trying to stop it.’ Mick Mulvaney, who succeeded Kelly as acting White House chief of staff, also dismissed the idea and told CNN he was “not aware of a general standing order” during his tenure.
In addition, CNN spoke with former national security and intelligence officials, as well as White House lawyers and Justice Department officials. In all, their tenure spans all four years of the Trump administration, and many served in positions where they would either have been involved in the declassification process, or at least have been aware of such orders.
Official after official scoffed at the claim that Trump had a standing order to declassify documents that left the Oval Office and moved into the residence. “Absolute nonsense,” said a senior White House official. “If that’s true, where is the order with his signature? If that were the case, there would have been massive pushback from the Intel community and the Department of Defense, which would almost certainly have been made known to the Intel and Armed Services committees on the Hill.” Many of the officials spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity in order to candidly discuss internal Trump administration dynamics, as well as avoid any potential backlash from the former president.

General claims of misrepresentation

Trump and his allies have made a wide range of claims about the declassification in the days since the FBI’s Aug. 8 raid at Mar-a-Lago led to federal agents seizing 11 sets of classified documents — including some with the higher levels of classification.
On the social media platform Truth Social last week, Trump made the sweeping claim that the documents in the boxes the FBI seized from his home were “all declassified.”
John Solomon, editor-in-chief of the conservative website “Just the News,” was more specific in an interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity last week. Solomon, whom Trump named as one of his National Archives trustees, read a statement from Trump’s team that claimed the former president “had standing orders that the documents be removed from the Oval Office and moved to the residence where they were deemed as currently declassified. remove them.”
Cash Patel, a Trump ally and former national security official in the Trump administration — and also one of the former president’s nominees on the Archives — also told Fox last week that Trump “issued sweeping declassification orders on multiple occasions.” Patel said he did not know if the boxes at Mar-a-Lago contained documents that were part of those orders. Representatives for the former President did not respond to requests for comment. Solomon and Patel also did not respond.
The FBI’s unprecedented search warrant at the former president’s Florida residence was the result of a federal investigation into the removal of classified material from the White House as Trump left office. The investigation goes well beyond the question of whether the material was classified: The search warrant released last week identifies possible violations of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice and criminal manipulation of government records as reasons for the search. On Thursday, a judge heard arguments to unseal additional material in the investigation, including an affidavit that federal investigators should testify explaining why they believed there was probable cause that a crime had been committed. The Justice Department opposes releasing the affidavit, saying it would harm the ongoing criminal investigation.

“It can’t just be an idea in his head”

Even if Trump had sought to declassify documents in general, there is a specific process the president is supposed to follow, the officials said. Declassification must be memorialized and include careful reviews and notification agencies such as the CIA, NSA, Department of Energy, Department of State, and Department of Defense. “It can’t just be an idea in his head,” said David Laufman, the former head of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence division who investigated Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified documents. “Programs and employees would have been notified. There is no evidence that they were.”
Laufman’s successor, Jay Bratt, was one of four federal investigators who met with Trump’s lawyers about the Mar-a-Lago documents in June, CNN previously reported. A source familiar with declassification inside the Trump White House said while it’s true the president has broad declassification powers, Trump would need to create a file — and the source said he didn’t do that. “As a practical matter, you have to prove it,” the source said. “If he says, ‘I got flagged for something,’ the obvious question is, ‘Did you tell anyone about it?’ The obvious concern is that this is all an afterthought.” Another source with knowledge of the former president’s modus operandi said it was Trump’s view that he could declassify information any time and any way he wanted. “They told him it doesn’t work that way,” the source said.

“A Complete Fiction”

Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, called the idea of ​​a standing declassification order “a complete fantasy.”
“I was not informed of this when I started as national security adviser,” Bolton said on CNN’s “New Day” earlier this week. “Never heard of it, never seen it in action, didn’t know anything about it.”
Additionally, Olivia Troye, a former homeland security adviser to then-Vice President Mike Pence, called the notion of blanket declassification “ridiculous.” Another former senior intelligence official laughed and said it was “ridiculous”.
And a source familiar with White House records and declassification said Trump’s claim was “ridiculous” and that if such an order existed, it was “Trump’s best kept secret.”
Multiple sources said they believed Trump’s claim that the documents were declassified was nothing more than a transparent attempt to defend himself for taking the documents to Mar-a-Lago. “There is a declassification process, the president can’t just wave a magic wand,” said a former senior Trump White House official.
All 18 former Trump administration officials who spoke to CNN agreed. “It doesn’t even work like that, there’s a real process,” said a former White House national security official.
“If this existed, there had to be some way to remember it,” Bolton told “New Day.” “The White House counsel had to write it. Otherwise, how would people across the administration know what to declassify?”

“They would have resigned”

A former senior intelligence official said intelligence community leaders such as then-CIA Director Gina Haspel would have been informed of any declassification orders.
“And they wouldn’t allow it,” the official said. “They would have resigned.” Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists’ Program on Government Privacy and a classification expert, noted that presidents have almost unlimited discretion to classify and declassify information. But Aftergood said the idea that a document was declassified based on its location — such as its removal from the White House — simply “strains credulity.”
“A document that’s classified in Washington, D.C., is out of place in Florida — you could say that, but it’s silly,” he said. “And it calls into question the good faith of anyone who would make such a claim.” Troye, Pence’s former homeland security adviser, said, “there would be a paper trail of that general principle, and in two and a half years of working in national security in the White House, I’ve never heard that discussed.”
Troyes resigned from the Trump administration in August 2020 and now leads an anti-Trump Republican group.
Alyssa Farah Griffin, a CNN political commentator who resigned as White House communications director shortly after the 2020 presidential election, called a blanket dismissal “deeply reckless.”
“The idea that a president or former president could essentially do whatever he wants with our nation’s secrets poses an incalculable risk to US national security,” Griffin said.
“We would know,” said another former intelligence official, adding that trying to say the documents were automatically declassified is like “trying to close the barn door after the horse.”
CNN’s Gloria Borger, Evan Perez, Sara Murray and Gabby Orr contributed to this report.

title: “Former Trump Officials Say His Standing Order Declassification Claim Is Nonsense Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-04” author: “James Merrick”

Several officials laughed at the idea. A senior administration official called it “bullsh*t.” Two of Trump’s former chiefs of staff filed briefs to refute the claim.
“Nothing even close to such a stupid order has ever been given,” said John Kelly, who served as Trump’s chief of staff for 17 months from 2017 to 2019. “And I can’t imagine anyone who worked for the White House after me have simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed this order to go ahead without dying in the ditch trying to stop it.’ Mick Mulvaney, who succeeded Kelly as acting White House chief of staff, also dismissed the idea and told CNN he was “not aware of a general standing order” during his tenure.
In addition, CNN spoke with former national security and intelligence officials, as well as White House lawyers and Justice Department officials. In all, their tenure spans all four years of the Trump administration, and many served in positions where they would either have been involved in the declassification process, or at least have been aware of such orders.
Official after official scoffed at the claim that Trump had a standing order to declassify documents that left the Oval Office and moved into the residence. “Absolute nonsense,” said a senior White House official. “If that’s true, where is the order with his signature? If that were the case, there would have been massive pushback from the Intel community and the Department of Defense, which would almost certainly have been made known to the Intel and Armed Services committees on the Hill.” Many of the officials spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity in order to candidly discuss internal Trump administration dynamics, as well as avoid any potential backlash from the former president.

General claims of misrepresentation

Trump and his allies have made a wide range of claims about the declassification in the days since the FBI’s Aug. 8 raid at Mar-a-Lago led to federal agents seizing 11 sets of classified documents — including some with the higher levels of classification.
On the social media platform Truth Social last week, Trump made the sweeping claim that the documents in the boxes the FBI seized from his home were “all declassified.”
John Solomon, editor-in-chief of the conservative website “Just the News,” was more specific in an interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity last week. Solomon, whom Trump named as one of his National Archives trustees, read a statement from Trump’s team that claimed the former president “had standing orders that the documents be removed from the Oval Office and moved to the residence where they were deemed as currently declassified. remove them.”
Cash Patel, a Trump ally and former national security official in the Trump administration — and also one of the former president’s nominees on the Archives — also told Fox last week that Trump “issued sweeping declassification orders on multiple occasions.” Patel said he did not know if the boxes at Mar-a-Lago contained documents that were part of those orders. Representatives for the former President did not respond to requests for comment. Solomon and Patel also did not respond.
The FBI’s unprecedented search warrant at the former president’s Florida residence was the result of a federal investigation into the removal of classified material from the White House as Trump left office. The investigation goes well beyond the question of whether the material was classified: The search warrant released last week identifies possible violations of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice and criminal manipulation of government records as reasons for the search. On Thursday, a judge heard arguments to unseal additional material in the investigation, including an affidavit that federal investigators should testify explaining why they believed there was probable cause that a crime had been committed. The Justice Department opposes releasing the affidavit, saying it would harm the ongoing criminal investigation.

“It can’t just be an idea in his head”

Even if Trump had sought to declassify documents in general, there is a specific process the president is supposed to follow, the officials said. Declassification must be memorialized and include careful reviews and notification agencies such as the CIA, NSA, Department of Energy, Department of State, and Department of Defense. “It can’t just be an idea in his head,” said David Laufman, the former head of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence division who investigated Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified documents. “Programs and employees would have been notified. There is no evidence that they were.”
Laufman’s successor, Jay Bratt, was one of four federal investigators who met with Trump’s lawyers about the Mar-a-Lago documents in June, CNN previously reported. A source familiar with declassification inside the Trump White House said while it’s true the president has broad declassification powers, Trump would need to create a file — and the source said he didn’t do that. “As a practical matter, you have to prove it,” the source said. “If he says, ‘I got flagged for something,’ the obvious question is, ‘Did you tell anyone about it?’ The obvious concern is that this is all an afterthought.” Another source with knowledge of the former president’s modus operandi said it was Trump’s view that he could declassify information any time and any way he wanted. “They told him it doesn’t work that way,” the source said.

“A Complete Fiction”

Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, called the idea of ​​a standing declassification order “a complete fantasy.”
“I was not informed of this when I started as national security adviser,” Bolton said on CNN’s “New Day” earlier this week. “Never heard of it, never seen it in action, didn’t know anything about it.”
Additionally, Olivia Troye, a former homeland security adviser to then-Vice President Mike Pence, called the notion of blanket declassification “ridiculous.” Another former senior intelligence official laughed and said it was “ridiculous”.
And a source familiar with White House records and declassification said Trump’s claim was “ridiculous” and that if such an order existed, it was “Trump’s best kept secret.”
Multiple sources said they believed Trump’s claim that the documents were declassified was nothing more than a transparent attempt to defend himself for taking the documents to Mar-a-Lago. “There is a declassification process, the president can’t just wave a magic wand,” said a former senior Trump White House official.
All 18 former Trump administration officials who spoke to CNN agreed. “It doesn’t even work like that, there’s a real process,” said a former White House national security official.
“If this existed, there had to be some way to remember it,” Bolton told “New Day.” “The White House counsel had to write it. Otherwise, how would people across the administration know what to declassify?”

“They would have resigned”

A former senior intelligence official said intelligence community leaders such as then-CIA Director Gina Haspel would have been informed of any declassification orders.
“And they wouldn’t allow it,” the official said. “They would have resigned.” Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists’ Program on Government Privacy and a classification expert, noted that presidents have almost unlimited discretion to classify and declassify information. But Aftergood said the idea that a document was declassified based on its location — such as its removal from the White House — simply “strains credulity.”
“A document that’s classified in Washington, D.C., is out of place in Florida — you could say that, but it’s silly,” he said. “And it calls into question the good faith of anyone who would make such a claim.” Troye, Pence’s former homeland security adviser, said, “there would be a paper trail of that general principle, and in two and a half years of working in national security in the White House, I’ve never heard that discussed.”
Troyes resigned from the Trump administration in August 2020 and now leads an anti-Trump Republican group.
Alyssa Farah Griffin, a CNN political commentator who resigned as White House communications director shortly after the 2020 presidential election, called a blanket dismissal “deeply reckless.”
“The idea that a president or former president could essentially do whatever he wants with our nation’s secrets poses an incalculable risk to US national security,” Griffin said.
“We would know,” said another former intelligence official, adding that trying to say the documents were automatically declassified is like “trying to close the barn door after the horse.”
CNN’s Gloria Borger, Evan Perez, Sara Murray and Gabby Orr contributed to this report.

title: “Former Trump Officials Say His Standing Order Declassification Claim Is Nonsense Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-07” author: “Daniel Carreon”

Several officials laughed at the idea. A senior administration official called it “bullsh*t.” Two of Trump’s former chiefs of staff filed briefs to refute the claim.
“Nothing even close to such a stupid order has ever been given,” said John Kelly, who served as Trump’s chief of staff for 17 months from 2017 to 2019. “And I can’t imagine anyone who worked for the White House after me have simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed this order to go ahead without dying in the ditch trying to stop it.’ Mick Mulvaney, who succeeded Kelly as acting White House chief of staff, also dismissed the idea and told CNN he was “not aware of a general standing order” during his tenure.
In addition, CNN spoke with former national security and intelligence officials, as well as White House lawyers and Justice Department officials. In all, their tenure spans all four years of the Trump administration, and many served in positions where they would either have been involved in the declassification process, or at least have been aware of such orders.
Official after official scoffed at the claim that Trump had a standing order to declassify documents that left the Oval Office and moved into the residence. “Absolute nonsense,” said a senior White House official. “If that’s true, where is the order with his signature? If that were the case, there would have been massive pushback from the Intel community and the Department of Defense, which would almost certainly have been made known to the Intel and Armed Services committees on the Hill.” Many of the officials spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity in order to candidly discuss internal Trump administration dynamics, as well as avoid any potential backlash from the former president.

General claims of misrepresentation

Trump and his allies have made a wide range of claims about the declassification in the days since the FBI’s Aug. 8 raid at Mar-a-Lago led to federal agents seizing 11 sets of classified documents — including some with the higher levels of classification.
On the social media platform Truth Social last week, Trump made the sweeping claim that the documents in the boxes the FBI seized from his home were “all declassified.”
John Solomon, editor-in-chief of the conservative website “Just the News,” was more specific in an interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity last week. Solomon, whom Trump named as one of his National Archives trustees, read a statement from Trump’s team that claimed the former president “had standing orders that the documents be removed from the Oval Office and moved to the residence where they were deemed as currently declassified. remove them.”
Cash Patel, a Trump ally and former national security official in the Trump administration — and also one of the former president’s nominees on the Archives — also told Fox last week that Trump “issued sweeping declassification orders on multiple occasions.” Patel said he did not know if the boxes at Mar-a-Lago contained documents that were part of those orders. Representatives for the former President did not respond to requests for comment. Solomon and Patel also did not respond.
The FBI’s unprecedented search warrant at the former president’s Florida residence was the result of a federal investigation into the removal of classified material from the White House as Trump left office. The investigation goes well beyond the question of whether the material was classified: The search warrant released last week identifies possible violations of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice and criminal manipulation of government records as reasons for the search. On Thursday, a judge heard arguments to unseal additional material in the investigation, including an affidavit that federal investigators should testify explaining why they believed there was probable cause that a crime had been committed. The Justice Department opposes releasing the affidavit, saying it would harm the ongoing criminal investigation.

“It can’t just be an idea in his head”

Even if Trump had sought to declassify documents in general, there is a specific process the president is supposed to follow, the officials said. Declassification must be memorialized and include careful reviews and notification agencies such as the CIA, NSA, Department of Energy, Department of State, and Department of Defense. “It can’t just be an idea in his head,” said David Laufman, the former head of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence division who investigated Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified documents. “Programs and employees would have been notified. There is no evidence that they were.”
Laufman’s successor, Jay Bratt, was one of four federal investigators who met with Trump’s lawyers about the Mar-a-Lago documents in June, CNN previously reported. A source familiar with declassification inside the Trump White House said while it’s true the president has broad declassification powers, Trump would need to create a file — and the source said he didn’t do that. “As a practical matter, you have to prove it,” the source said. “If he says, ‘I got flagged for something,’ the obvious question is, ‘Did you tell anyone about it?’ The obvious concern is that this is all an afterthought.” Another source with knowledge of the former president’s modus operandi said it was Trump’s view that he could declassify information any time and any way he wanted. “They told him it doesn’t work that way,” the source said.

“A Complete Fiction”

Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, called the idea of ​​a standing declassification order “a complete fantasy.”
“I was not informed of this when I started as national security adviser,” Bolton said on CNN’s “New Day” earlier this week. “Never heard of it, never seen it in action, didn’t know anything about it.”
Additionally, Olivia Troye, a former homeland security adviser to then-Vice President Mike Pence, called the notion of blanket declassification “ridiculous.” Another former senior intelligence official laughed and said it was “ridiculous”.
And a source familiar with White House records and declassification said Trump’s claim was “ridiculous” and that if such an order existed, it was “Trump’s best kept secret.”
Multiple sources said they believed Trump’s claim that the documents were declassified was nothing more than a transparent attempt to defend himself for taking the documents to Mar-a-Lago. “There is a declassification process, the president can’t just wave a magic wand,” said a former senior Trump White House official.
All 18 former Trump administration officials who spoke to CNN agreed. “It doesn’t even work like that, there’s a real process,” said a former White House national security official.
“If this existed, there had to be some way to remember it,” Bolton told “New Day.” “The White House counsel had to write it. Otherwise, how would people across the administration know what to declassify?”

“They would have resigned”

A former senior intelligence official said intelligence community leaders such as then-CIA Director Gina Haspel would have been informed of any declassification orders.
“And they wouldn’t allow it,” the official said. “They would have resigned.” Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists’ Program on Government Privacy and a classification expert, noted that presidents have almost unlimited discretion to classify and declassify information. But Aftergood said the idea that a document was declassified based on its location — such as its removal from the White House — simply “strains credulity.”
“A document that’s classified in Washington, D.C., is out of place in Florida — you could say that, but it’s silly,” he said. “And it calls into question the good faith of anyone who would make such a claim.” Troye, Pence’s former homeland security adviser, said, “there would be a paper trail of that general principle, and in two and a half years of working in national security in the White House, I’ve never heard that discussed.”
Troyes resigned from the Trump administration in August 2020 and now leads an anti-Trump Republican group.
Alyssa Farah Griffin, a CNN political commentator who resigned as White House communications director shortly after the 2020 presidential election, called a blanket dismissal “deeply reckless.”
“The idea that a president or former president could essentially do whatever he wants with our nation’s secrets poses an incalculable risk to US national security,” Griffin said.
“We would know,” said another former intelligence official, adding that trying to say the documents were automatically declassified is like “trying to close the barn door after the horse.”
CNN’s Gloria Borger, Evan Perez, Sara Murray and Gabby Orr contributed to this report.

title: “Former Trump Officials Say His Standing Order Declassification Claim Is Nonsense Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-28” author: “Clyde Anderson”

Several officials laughed at the idea. A senior administration official called it “bullsh*t.” Two of Trump’s former chiefs of staff filed briefs to refute the claim.
“Nothing even close to such a stupid order has ever been given,” said John Kelly, who served as Trump’s chief of staff for 17 months from 2017 to 2019. “And I can’t imagine anyone who worked for the White House after me have simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed this order to go ahead without dying in the ditch trying to stop it.’ Mick Mulvaney, who succeeded Kelly as acting White House chief of staff, also dismissed the idea and told CNN he was “not aware of a general standing order” during his tenure.
In addition, CNN spoke with former national security and intelligence officials, as well as White House lawyers and Justice Department officials. In all, their tenure spans all four years of the Trump administration, and many served in positions where they would either have been involved in the declassification process, or at least have been aware of such orders.
Official after official scoffed at the claim that Trump had a standing order to declassify documents that left the Oval Office and moved into the residence. “Absolute nonsense,” said a senior White House official. “If that’s true, where is the order with his signature? If that were the case, there would have been massive pushback from the Intel community and the Department of Defense, which would almost certainly have been made known to the Intel and Armed Services committees on the Hill.” Many of the officials spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity in order to candidly discuss internal Trump administration dynamics, as well as avoid any potential backlash from the former president.

General claims of misrepresentation

Trump and his allies have made a wide range of claims about the declassification in the days since the FBI’s Aug. 8 raid at Mar-a-Lago led to federal agents seizing 11 sets of classified documents — including some with the higher levels of classification.
On the social media platform Truth Social last week, Trump made the sweeping claim that the documents in the boxes the FBI seized from his home were “all declassified.”
John Solomon, editor-in-chief of the conservative website “Just the News,” was more specific in an interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity last week. Solomon, whom Trump named as one of his National Archives trustees, read a statement from Trump’s team that claimed the former president “had standing orders that the documents be removed from the Oval Office and moved to the residence where they were deemed as currently declassified. remove them.”
Cash Patel, a Trump ally and former national security official in the Trump administration — and also one of the former president’s nominees on the Archives — also told Fox last week that Trump “issued sweeping declassification orders on multiple occasions.” Patel said he did not know if the boxes at Mar-a-Lago contained documents that were part of those orders. Representatives for the former President did not respond to requests for comment. Solomon and Patel also did not respond.
The FBI’s unprecedented search warrant at the former president’s Florida residence was the result of a federal investigation into the removal of classified material from the White House as Trump left office. The investigation goes well beyond the question of whether the material was classified: The search warrant released last week identifies possible violations of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice and criminal manipulation of government records as reasons for the search. On Thursday, a judge heard arguments to unseal additional material in the investigation, including an affidavit that federal investigators should testify explaining why they believed there was probable cause that a crime had been committed. The Justice Department opposes releasing the affidavit, saying it would harm the ongoing criminal investigation.

“It can’t just be an idea in his head”

Even if Trump had sought to declassify documents in general, there is a specific process the president is supposed to follow, the officials said. Declassification must be memorialized and include careful reviews and notification agencies such as the CIA, NSA, Department of Energy, Department of State, and Department of Defense. “It can’t just be an idea in his head,” said David Laufman, the former head of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence division who investigated Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified documents. “Programs and employees would have been notified. There is no evidence that they were.”
Laufman’s successor, Jay Bratt, was one of four federal investigators who met with Trump’s lawyers about the Mar-a-Lago documents in June, CNN previously reported. A source familiar with declassification inside the Trump White House said while it’s true the president has broad declassification powers, Trump would need to create a file — and the source said he didn’t do that. “As a practical matter, you have to prove it,” the source said. “If he says, ‘I got flagged for something,’ the obvious question is, ‘Did you tell anyone about it?’ The obvious concern is that this is all an afterthought.” Another source with knowledge of the former president’s modus operandi said it was Trump’s view that he could declassify information any time and any way he wanted. “They told him it doesn’t work that way,” the source said.

“A Complete Fiction”

Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, called the idea of ​​a standing declassification order “a complete fantasy.”
“I was not informed of this when I started as national security adviser,” Bolton said on CNN’s “New Day” earlier this week. “Never heard of it, never seen it in action, didn’t know anything about it.”
Additionally, Olivia Troye, a former homeland security adviser to then-Vice President Mike Pence, called the notion of blanket declassification “ridiculous.” Another former senior intelligence official laughed and said it was “ridiculous”.
And a source familiar with White House records and declassification said Trump’s claim was “ridiculous” and that if such an order existed, it was “Trump’s best kept secret.”
Multiple sources said they believed Trump’s claim that the documents were declassified was nothing more than a transparent attempt to defend himself for taking the documents to Mar-a-Lago. “There is a declassification process, the president can’t just wave a magic wand,” said a former senior Trump White House official.
All 18 former Trump administration officials who spoke to CNN agreed. “It doesn’t even work like that, there’s a real process,” said a former White House national security official.
“If this existed, there had to be some way to remember it,” Bolton told “New Day.” “The White House counsel had to write it. Otherwise, how would people across the administration know what to declassify?”

“They would have resigned”

A former senior intelligence official said intelligence community leaders such as then-CIA Director Gina Haspel would have been informed of any declassification orders.
“And they wouldn’t allow it,” the official said. “They would have resigned.” Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists’ Program on Government Privacy and a classification expert, noted that presidents have almost unlimited discretion to classify and declassify information. But Aftergood said the idea that a document was declassified based on its location — such as its removal from the White House — simply “strains credulity.”
“A document that’s classified in Washington, D.C., is out of place in Florida — you could say that, but it’s silly,” he said. “And it calls into question the good faith of anyone who would make such a claim.” Troye, Pence’s former homeland security adviser, said, “there would be a paper trail of that general principle, and in two and a half years of working in national security in the White House, I’ve never heard that discussed.”
Troyes resigned from the Trump administration in August 2020 and now leads an anti-Trump Republican group.
Alyssa Farah Griffin, a CNN political commentator who resigned as White House communications director shortly after the 2020 presidential election, called a blanket dismissal “deeply reckless.”
“The idea that a president or former president could essentially do whatever he wants with our nation’s secrets poses an incalculable risk to US national security,” Griffin said.
“We would know,” said another former intelligence official, adding that trying to say the documents were automatically declassified is like “trying to close the barn door after the horse.”
CNN’s Gloria Borger, Evan Perez, Sara Murray and Gabby Orr contributed to this report.

title: “Former Trump Officials Say His Standing Order Declassification Claim Is Nonsense Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-13” author: “Ester Mccormack”

Several officials laughed at the idea. A senior administration official called it “bullsh*t.” Two of Trump’s former chiefs of staff filed briefs to refute the claim.
“Nothing even close to such a stupid order has ever been given,” said John Kelly, who served as Trump’s chief of staff for 17 months from 2017 to 2019. “And I can’t imagine anyone who worked for the White House after me have simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed this order to go ahead without dying in the ditch trying to stop it.’ Mick Mulvaney, who succeeded Kelly as acting White House chief of staff, also dismissed the idea and told CNN he was “not aware of a general standing order” during his tenure.
In addition, CNN spoke with former national security and intelligence officials, as well as White House lawyers and Justice Department officials. In all, their tenure spans all four years of the Trump administration, and many served in positions where they would either have been involved in the declassification process, or at least have been aware of such orders.
Official after official scoffed at the claim that Trump had a standing order to declassify documents that left the Oval Office and moved into the residence. “Absolute nonsense,” said a senior White House official. “If that’s true, where is the order with his signature? If that were the case, there would have been massive pushback from the Intel community and the Department of Defense, which would almost certainly have been made known to the Intel and Armed Services committees on the Hill.” Many of the officials spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity in order to candidly discuss internal Trump administration dynamics, as well as avoid any potential backlash from the former president.

General claims of misrepresentation

Trump and his allies have made a wide range of claims about the declassification in the days since the FBI’s Aug. 8 raid at Mar-a-Lago led to federal agents seizing 11 sets of classified documents — including some with the higher levels of classification.
On the social media platform Truth Social last week, Trump made the sweeping claim that the documents in the boxes the FBI seized from his home were “all declassified.”
John Solomon, editor-in-chief of the conservative website “Just the News,” was more specific in an interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity last week. Solomon, whom Trump named as one of his National Archives trustees, read a statement from Trump’s team that claimed the former president “had standing orders that the documents be removed from the Oval Office and moved to the residence where they were deemed as currently declassified. remove them.”
Cash Patel, a Trump ally and former national security official in the Trump administration — and also one of the former president’s nominees on the Archives — also told Fox last week that Trump “issued sweeping declassification orders on multiple occasions.” Patel said he did not know if the boxes at Mar-a-Lago contained documents that were part of those orders. Representatives for the former President did not respond to requests for comment. Solomon and Patel also did not respond.
The FBI’s unprecedented search warrant at the former president’s Florida residence was the result of a federal investigation into the removal of classified material from the White House as Trump left office. The investigation goes well beyond the question of whether the material was classified: The search warrant released last week identifies possible violations of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice and criminal manipulation of government records as reasons for the search. On Thursday, a judge heard arguments to unseal additional material in the investigation, including an affidavit that federal investigators should testify explaining why they believed there was probable cause that a crime had been committed. The Justice Department opposes releasing the affidavit, saying it would harm the ongoing criminal investigation.

“It can’t just be an idea in his head”

Even if Trump had sought to declassify documents in general, there is a specific process the president is supposed to follow, the officials said. Declassification must be memorialized and include careful reviews and notification agencies such as the CIA, NSA, Department of Energy, Department of State, and Department of Defense. “It can’t just be an idea in his head,” said David Laufman, the former head of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence division who investigated Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified documents. “Programs and employees would have been notified. There is no evidence that they were.”
Laufman’s successor, Jay Bratt, was one of four federal investigators who met with Trump’s lawyers about the Mar-a-Lago documents in June, CNN previously reported. A source familiar with declassification inside the Trump White House said while it’s true the president has broad declassification powers, Trump would need to create a file — and the source said he didn’t do that. “As a practical matter, you have to prove it,” the source said. “If he says, ‘I got flagged for something,’ the obvious question is, ‘Did you tell anyone about it?’ The obvious concern is that this is all an afterthought.” Another source with knowledge of the former president’s modus operandi said it was Trump’s view that he could declassify information any time and any way he wanted. “They told him it doesn’t work that way,” the source said.

“A Complete Fiction”

Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, called the idea of ​​a standing declassification order “a complete fantasy.”
“I was not informed of this when I started as national security adviser,” Bolton said on CNN’s “New Day” earlier this week. “Never heard of it, never seen it in action, didn’t know anything about it.”
Additionally, Olivia Troye, a former homeland security adviser to then-Vice President Mike Pence, called the notion of blanket declassification “ridiculous.” Another former senior intelligence official laughed and said it was “ridiculous”.
And a source familiar with White House records and declassification said Trump’s claim was “ridiculous” and that if such an order existed, it was “Trump’s best kept secret.”
Multiple sources said they believed Trump’s claim that the documents were declassified was nothing more than a transparent attempt to defend himself for taking the documents to Mar-a-Lago. “There is a declassification process, the president can’t just wave a magic wand,” said a former senior Trump White House official.
All 18 former Trump administration officials who spoke to CNN agreed. “It doesn’t even work like that, there’s a real process,” said a former White House national security official.
“If this existed, there had to be some way to remember it,” Bolton told “New Day.” “The White House counsel had to write it. Otherwise, how would people across the administration know what to declassify?”

“They would have resigned”

A former senior intelligence official said intelligence community leaders such as then-CIA Director Gina Haspel would have been informed of any declassification orders.
“And they wouldn’t allow it,” the official said. “They would have resigned.” Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists’ Program on Government Privacy and a classification expert, noted that presidents have almost unlimited discretion to classify and declassify information. But Aftergood said the idea that a document was declassified based on its location — such as its removal from the White House — simply “strains credulity.”
“A document that’s classified in Washington, D.C., is out of place in Florida — you could say that, but it’s silly,” he said. “And it calls into question the good faith of anyone who would make such a claim.” Troye, Pence’s former homeland security adviser, said, “there would be a paper trail of that general principle, and in two and a half years of working in national security in the White House, I’ve never heard that discussed.”
Troyes resigned from the Trump administration in August 2020 and now leads an anti-Trump Republican group.
Alyssa Farah Griffin, a CNN political commentator who resigned as White House communications director shortly after the 2020 presidential election, called a blanket dismissal “deeply reckless.”
“The idea that a president or former president could essentially do whatever he wants with our nation’s secrets poses an incalculable risk to US national security,” Griffin said.
“We would know,” said another former intelligence official, adding that trying to say the documents were automatically declassified is like “trying to close the barn door after the horse.”
CNN’s Gloria Borger, Evan Perez, Sara Murray and Gabby Orr contributed to this report.