Biden responds to Trump’s Declassification Order Claims

President Joe Biden responded to claims made by Donald Trump and his staff that he had declassified material taken to Mar-a-Lago. These materials were apparently the subject of an FBI raid this month.

Trump’s former aide Kash Palet and his team have stated that Trump was president when he had an order to release classified material from the Oval Office to Mar-a-Lago.

“He made a stand order for documents to be removed from Oval Office offices and brought into his residence. This statement was issued by Trump’s office in August. The President is the only person who has the power to declassify or classify documents. It is absurd to think that a paper-pushing bureaucrat with classified authority delegated by the President must approve declassification

On his final day in office on Jan. 19, 2021, Trump issued an order declassifying some material relating to the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation. The FBI and the Department of Justice have not yet revealed the purpose of the raid on Aug. 8, or if it related to these documents.

A reporter asked Biden on Aug. 26 whether Trump could issue such an order as the president was departing for another vacation to his home in Delaware.

“Could they have just declassified all of them?” asked the reporter to Biden. He declined to answer the question but seemed to ridicule Trump’s statement about declassifying material.

” I’ve classified everything in the universe. I’m president. It’s possible. You can do it! Biden responded sarcastically, saying, “Declassified everything.” It’s not something I want. Let the Justice Department handle it .”

Both Biden, White House staff and others have stated that the administration was unaware of the FBI raid before it occurred. Republicans claim that they didn’t know about the FBI raid.

The Justice Department released on Friday a highly redacted copy of an affidavit submitted in order to get the FBI raid warrant. Around 20 of the 32 pages of the legal document are partially or fully redacted, which drew criticism from Trump and Republicans for revealing few new details about what the FBI was investigating, what the agents took, and the justification used for the raid.

The affidavit stated that there was “probable reason” for Trump to search his property due to “classified National Day and Presidential records” still on the premises. “Accordingly, this affidavit seeks authorization to search the ’45 Office’ and all storage rooms and any other rooms or locations where boxes or records may be stored within the PREMISES,” the legal document said.

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