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After Donald Trump was caught hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estatepost-presidency, the former president and his staff claimed a “standing order” authorized him to declassify the docs. Turns out, the mysterious “order” was bullshit.
In August, Bloomberg News filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, suing the Office of Director of National Intelligence and the Justice Department’s national security division for a copy of Trump’s alleged order. A letter sent Thursday to the outlet confirmed that neither the DOJ or ODNI “possesses no records responsive to your request” regarding the existence of a declassification standing order.
The disclosure was prompted after a similar case in Massachusetts where a judge ordered the agencies confirm whether the standing order or records referencing it exist, per Bloomberg News.
Following the ex-president’s claims that he had the power to declassify anything highly sensitive government docs at a whim, Rolling Stone reported that the FBI was also investigating Trump’s National Security staff about his alibi.
Sources familiar with the matter toldRolling Stonethat the FBI has begun asking former Trump administration officials whether they’ve heard of the so-called “standing order,” and that feds had sent interview requests to the ex-officials, including former National Security Council personnel. After CNN asked18 former Trump officials in Augustwhether they knew of such an order, none mentioned having heard of it and said they believed the claim to be false.
On Thursday, Rolling Stone reported that the former president still wanted “my documents” and “my boxes” back, despite beingcharged with 37 counts of willful retention of classified documents and obstruction of justice as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s probe.
