Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., is arguing that an audio recording reportedly obtained by the Justice Department indicates that former President Donald Trump had a “clear understanding” he did not “magically” declassify White House documents.
“For a while at least, there was a half-hearted effort to claim − by Donald Trump − that he could just magically declassify, telepathically or mentally. And this (recording) seems to reflect his clear understanding that he had not declassified this document and that it was still classified,” Raskin said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The Maryland Democrat’s comments follow reports that federal officials obtained an audio recording where Trump discussed having a classified Pentagon document about a possible attack on Iran in his possession. The recording is from a July 2021 meeting at the former president’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, according to CNN.
The DOJ is investigating Trump for classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago home. The National Archives in January 2022 obtained 15 boxes of presidential material from the Florida estate
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Trump has denied wrongdoing in the investigation. The former president in a broadcast interview last year said that he can classify documents “even by thinking about it.”
“There doesn’t have to be a process, as I understand it,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity
“If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified, even by thinking about it,” Trump added. Presidents are responsible for classifying and declassifying material, but there is a process for doing so.
Raskin said Sunday that the tape could have “a lot” of impact on the Justice Department’s case because a person’s intent, and whether there is a “consciousness of guilt,” is a “key ingredient” in criminal cases.
“If a person acts with consciousness of their own guilt or consciousness of their own potential wrongdoing, that demonstrates that, if they go forward nonetheless, there’s intent,” Raskin said. “And my understanding is that there were hundreds of documents taken. Many of them were classified. Some of them were top secret. And yet they were deliberately withheld.”
Contributing: Marina Pitofsky and Merdie Nzanga, USA TODAY
