DOJ and ODNI can’t find alleged 'standing order' allowing Trump to declassify White House records: FOIA

30 June 2023

Angrily railing against special counsel Jack Smith's 37-count criminal prosecution of former President Donald Trump, countless right-wing media outlets have been parroting Trump's claim that all of the government documents he was storing at Mar-a-Lago were "declassified." Trump has maintained that as president, he had the authority to "declassify" any documents that he moved to Mar-a-Lago after leaving office — a claim that Smith and his team at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) vehemently disagree with.

But Bloomberg News' Jason Leopold, in an article published on June 29, reports that an alleged "standing order" that Trump "has claimed authorized him to instantly declassify documents removed from the Oval Office could not be found by either the Justice Department or Office of Director of National Intelligence."

"The disclosure by the agencies was made in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed last August by Bloomberg News, which sued ODNI and the Justice Department's national security division for a copy of Trump's so-called standing order — if one existed," Leopold explains. "Trump insisted that he had such a declassification order after the FBI found top-secret materials at his Mar-a-Lago home last year."

In 2023, Trump finds himself in a position that is unprecedented in United States history. He is the frontrunner in the GOP presidential primary while facing two criminal indictments; in addition to Smith's prosecution, Trump is up against a 34-count prosecution by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. in New York State. And his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results are the focus of criminal investigations by Smith for DOJ and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for the State of Georgia; Trump hasn't been indicted in either of those cases, although many legal experts have said that indictments are likely.

According to Leopold, "government attorneys" have "confirmed, in a letter sent Thursday, (June 29) to Bloomberg News" that neither DOJ nor the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) "possesses" any "'records responsive to your request' about the existence of a declassification standing order."

"The government was compelled to make the disclosure about the standing order after a judge in a similar case in Massachusetts ordered the agencies to say whether the standing order or records referencing it exist," Leopold notes.

Between Smith's 37-count case and Bragg's 34-count prosecution in New York State, Trump is facing a total of 71 criminal counts — with possibly more to come.

Bloomberg News' full report is available at this link (subscription required).

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