One of former President Donald Trump's claims about having classified documents at his country club in Florida and New Jersey was that he had a "standing order" to declassify whatever he wanted. Experts have explained why the claim isn't something that is done.
In an Aug. 2022 appearance with Fox's Sean Hannity, Trump's lawyer read a statement claiming that the former president had such a "standing order" and that anything he took to the residence in the White House was automatically declassified.
Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, called the assertion “complete fiction" the following day. Another senior administration official called it “bullsh*t," and two of Trump's former chiefs of staff agreed.
“Nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given,” said Gen. John Kelly. “And I can’t imagine anyone that worked at the White House after me that would have simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed that order to go forward without dying in the ditch trying to stop it.”
It has been a search that Bloomberg News has endeavored for the past year, finding nothing. They filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the order, suing the DOJ and ODNI for the release. But on Wednesday, government lawyers said they can neither confirm nor deny whether Trump had such an order. They claim it's due to an ongoing criminal investigation.
On Thursday, a new update came from the Justice Department and the Director of National Intelligence: they haven't been able to find the "standing order" either.
It was part of the ongoing FOIA last year. Bloomberg sued the ODNi and the Justice Department for a copy of the "standing order" — if one existed. What was revealed in that court battle is that no such document exists.
"Last month, in a court filing, government attorneys asserted to Bloomberg News that they could neither confirm nor deny whether the agencies had such a document, citing the ongoing criminal investigations against Trump," the report said.
Government attorneys told Bloomberg in a letter on Thursday that "each agency 'possesses no records responsive to your request' about the existence of a declassification standing order."
