Former President Donald Trump sat for an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday night, and the spectacle didn’t disappoint.
Hannity asked Trump what declassification process he went through to declassify documents the FBI took from Mar-a-Lago in their August 8 raid.
“There doesn’t have to he a process, as I understand it,” Trump said. “If you’re the president of the United States you can declassify just by saying ‘it’s declassified’ – even by just thinking about it.”
He also suggested that the raid wasn’t about him having classified documents, but because the FBI was perhaps looking for Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails or evidence of a conspiracy to nail him on the “Russia, Russia, Russia” investigation.
Trump then questioned whether FBI agents planted evidence at his Mar-a-Lago estate to frame him on crimes he didn’t commit.
He also spoke about the moment he learned of the Mar-a-Lago raid, saying that FBI agents were carrying “AK-47s or some kind of a very sophisticated gun.”
Trump also referred to himself as the “former” president, saying, “I hate to use the word ‘former’ because I have a lot of problems with what happened.”
Hannity also asked Trump why he doesn’t release footage of the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, to which Trump said he was “asked not to do that.” Asked why he didn’t simply pixelate faces so people couldn’t be identified, Trump said, “I guess I could do that.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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35 Responses
Why the leftist nonsense on YWN?????!!!
President Trump certainly isn’t “bonkers”, and presidents apparently do have declassification powers.I listened to the interview and felt it was well done. TRUMP 2024!
docelisheva, Are you claiming that the words of Donald Trump and Sean Hannity are leftist nonsense?
President’s do have the power to declassify, but there is a process and the agencies involved are notified of the declassification. Even if declassified the documents belong to the Federal Archives and are not the property of any citizen. The 33 million pages that Trump referred to were taken to a secure Federal building in Chicago for Obama to review, they were not in his possession.
Bonkers = the author of the article.
This is the same BS as all the “trump said everyone should inject themselves with Clorox” garbage.
So stupid.
It’s just so plain mean to take his words so out of context.
He’s so logical! As President, he was meant to be a manager and CEO of the country! Not a damn lawyer or health expert. His damn job was to confer with the experts in every case and decide.
That is the presidents literal JOB.
And he did it so well.
Watch the Clorox vid: it makes me so mad!! He simply asked the experts if there was some way to channel some of the effects of Clorox without the pisonous effect. He ASKED. What the hell was illogical about his question? Nothing! What a bunch of hypocrites, those critical scientists! As if they don’t realize hat in the past hundred years science has accomplished infinite things that would have seemed laughable in centuries past.
What a Chutzpah.
And here too: he said “as I understand it”
What do u want him to do!?!?
He speaks to a legal team!
What a Bunch of reshaim. What lists.
I don’t get what’s so WILD about it? He’s saying that actions speak louder than words, and by sending it he’s obviously determining it’s okay. Don’t be a fool. Obama took over 3000 documents for his museum and he’s STILL IN NEGOTIATIONS with the records department about them…
What’s WILD is the Biden DOJ spending our money to run witch-hunt after witch-hunt, while destroying communities across the country, and YWN buying their trash and feeding it to us…
Besides being an immoral criminal, he’s a complete dummy and lunatic.
I watched this interview and came away with an entirely different impression. While Trump is not the most articulate person, and can sometimes say random things, nothing in this interview was incorrect or concerning. Is YWN implying that there is a “process” to declassify documents? Can you point to it? I believe Trump was right- Presidents have the ability to declassify whatever they deem necessay for the job function and there is no formal process for doing so. He also demonstrated during this interview (which you omitted), that HE wasn’t even the one who packed the boxes with any documents, rather it was packed by US Government officials without his involvement, and that is routine process. And every President ends up getting requests to return things that were taken incorrectly, as was he, and he complied and even got a thank you letter.
He didn’t suggest the FBI planted anything, he just suggeted it was possible given the lack of chaim of custody or allowance of his attorneys to be present to observe, which would taint any investigation.
Regarding the AK047 comment- that is a Trumpism and really of zero significance or importance to report. Same thing with mention of “former” and everything else.
Is this the worst you can find in this interview? If so, then it was a darn good interview for Trump!
Wait we’re allowed to call Trump bonkers? I thought that automatically made me a left wing extremist!
I agree, this sounds very leftist. The job of media is to report the news, period, not to give commentary and opinions unless it’s labeled as such. And who says he’s bonkers, maybe he’s right? Ya never know… Lehavdil, there are actually sugyas in shas about being mafrish teruma and setting aside money for tzedaka b’machshava and the like.
And this man thinks we should all thus vote for him because he’s the best choice? NOT
Agree, the use of the word BONKERS is very inappropriate
Sometimes a post reveals oneself.
Ditto!
YWN WHAT THE HECK ?
he spoke very good and yes they have the power to do so hes the president no ?
oh YWN u gotta man up
why YWN the negative slant? Trump is absolutely right. The whole legal concept of “classified” is a mechanism specifically for the President to use to manage confidentiality. It is from top to bottom his domain and only for his benefit. There is no requirement for any classification or declassification process, except as the President cares to implement.
Considering the legal attacks from the left,which are so clearly and obviously political that if you don’t see it then your anxiously to far gone for reason, he has every reason to be paranoid to think they did something…honestly I’m tired of hearing about the election and wish he would drop it but with every ny lawsuit and Raid on Trump as well as DeSantis one can not help but think if they’re willing to do something so obviously biased what’s to say they not willing to go next level. Bottomline the left is getting more untrustworthy with every move they make.
When are people going to realize how corrupt and incompetent Trump is? When are they going to realize that many of the people who support him are rabid anti-semites (Proud Boys, Oath Keepers)?
The FBI is not a radical leftist organization. They are doing their job. The DOJ is not a radical leftist organization. They are doing their job.
The many indictments against Trump is not a function of the leftists. He took classified documents. He lied about the value of his properties. He tried to change the election results in Georgia. Those are facts.
The leftists are against many of our values but that is not related to the crimes committed by Trump.
This guy is toast. Move on, boys.
Bonkers for sure. Along with those that agree with his off the wall explanation of the declassification process.
Since when is YWN turning left?
The article header is disgusting.
Machshava Kemaisa today
Yaish Me’Ayin tomorrow.
the title of bonkers is to try to effect your support for the donald because ywn decided they dont like his chup
YWN has gone too far with these trump self hating comments. They have aligned themselves with the far left progressives but are pretending they’re actually frum. This kind of progressives journalism has to stop immediately. The time has come it’s needed now more than ever to establish a new kosher content website who actually believes in Torah values but not pretend to have Torah values. We all remember what trump has done for us Jews tremendously and these articles attacking him will have zero tolerance in our community. We need courage here to stand up against this progressive YWN! I hope someone here will take this seriously and establish a true Torah news website.
every time i see these headlines and then watch the videos i get more and mote convinced that trump derangement syndrome is a real diagnosis and disorder and sickness
this is classic good old trump- nothing changed and we all still love him and the left media (including yeshiva world) and all those krummeh thinking people (like rt and gedolahador and huju and yaakov doe and morrishertz ) will never understand why trump is so popular- go learn a reb chaim and you’ll start realizing why truth resonates with us
I learn a reb Chaim before I go on ywn so I can see how krum they are getting
Another non-story you lifted from the Washington compost without giving them the credit? Whatever happened to האומר דבר בשם אומרו מביא גאולה לעולם?
The bottom line is, the president is allowed to declassify whatever it is that he wants to. It is not up to the bureaucrats or the deep state to decide what can be declassified and what cannot be declassified. If the president says it’s declassified, however it is that he says it, then it is declassified. Too bad on the deep state !
This is why inside Washington never liked him. He did what he was supposed to do and said too blanking bad on everyone else.
I would suggest you read the United States Constitution, especially the portions dealing with the executive branch and declassification of materials so that you don’t keep making idiots out of yourselves.
Yidden. When are you all going to realize that Donald Trump is a very bad and extremely dangerous person it is so Pushut and obvious but still most very smart Frum Yidden are following him blindly Hal’avi they would put such Bitochon in Hashem.
The vast majority of educated people in this country and around the world see Trump as crazy and totally immoral he only has support from dumb uneducated rednecks and the Frum community.
Every word the man says is a lie. He has zero morals he doesn’t care about anyone or for America there is only one thing he cares about and that is Donald Trump. The best and most reliable news sources he calls fake news when he is the biggest fake news ever, look at this :
https://www.forbes.com/sites/berlinschoolofcreativeleadership/2017/02/01/10-journalism-brands-where-you-will-find-real-facts-rather-than-alternative-facts/
He is a massive Bal Givah, a Menuval, and a Kovod Fresser. On top of all that he is dumb and completely incompetent. The majority of people who worked for him think he is crazy and dangerous see this
https://news.yahoo.com/the-growing-list-of-people-donald-trump-hired-who-eventually-soured-on-him-171720536.html
And this
The Growing List Of Ex-Trump Officials Who Now Denounce The President (forbes.com)
And this
All the Ex-Trump Officials Who Have Publicly Vowed Not to Vote for Him (businessinsider.com)
Also this
Former Trump Officials Say He’s Incompetent, He Says They’re Liars (businessinsider.com)
But he is right and everyone is wrong
He has committed multiple crimes and all the investigations and impeachments are justified it has nothing to do with leftists. He defrauded banks of hundreds of millions over years. He colluded with Russia and after losing the election by a huge margin denied the Emes when over 50 judges who were Republicans threw out his challenges he went and incited a riot at the capital where people were killed, he jeopardized democracy in this country which especially we Yidden rely on for our safety. He jeopardized the security of the US by illegally taking classified documents home and recklessly exposing them to spies. All the legal problems he has are nothing to do with leftists believe me if you or I would have have done any of these crimes we would already be in Jail for a long time. Wake up Yidden Trump is a Novi Sheker who has ruined the country. Move on.
YWN is absolutely right. The love of Trump in the frum community has turned into a cult. People are so quick to point out the insanity of the left while completely neglecting that Trump is an insane narcissist who consistently says dumb things. Instead they all apologize and answer up his words, because the great Trump can do no wrong.
The frum community is totally ignoring the fact that Trump has elevated anti-semites, nutjobs, and conspiracy theorists to mainstream respectability in the Republican Party simply because they liked him and is now openly endorsing QANON. Charlie Kirk, and TPUSA, who is considered very mainstream republican, now openly endorses ethnonationalism and has had insane conspiracy theorist Alex Jones as a headline speaker.
The Republican party is now the party of White Ethnonationalism, thanks to Trump and his cronies. Trump is not an antisemite, but the people who surround him and he endorses are. Its time for the frum community to recognize this and stop defending him.
(Feel free to post this as a mailbag, YWN).
Jack N – everytime I read your comments I become convinced that MAGA folk are incapable of recognizing basic reality or admitting the truth.
If the Congress is so lazy that they delegated to the executive branch unlimited authority to decide on whether and how to classify government documents, Trump was within his rights (and you have an excellent argument for how the “administrative state” has clearly gotten out of hand).
@YiddeisheMentch @somejewiknow @Jersey Jew @jack N etc… no the president just doesnt get to declare ‘declassified’ much like you cant just scream ‘I declare bankruptcy’ (Jack – Trump is Truth?!?!)
First of all the warrant wasn’t even for classified documents, it was for obstruction of justice ie obstructing govt records.
Second, they need to be stamped declassified, among other protocols.
Thirdly, declassification means that it becomes public record, accessible by us the people. So you notify the agencies that are holding those records to declassify it. There is literally a National Declassification Center who’s job is to handle this. (https://www.archives.gov/declassification/ndc)
If you’re firm in the “Trump surely wouldn’t make stuff up” camp then I’m sorry, but if you are interested in educating yourself may I suggest “Trump’s Bad Defenses and Worse Lawyering” YouTube video by LegalEagle. (Link if allowed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1X31K-0bYA)
You can still like Trump and realize he’s full of it with stuff like this, no-one says to like a person you have to agree 100% with them. Learning Gemara is all about nuance, apply it to your viewpoints.
DovidSa,
Next time I want to know what the leftist media thinks of President Trump, I could look there. We don’t need you to be the parrot of all things loony toons.
> 64bitsomething
Looks like a game of semantics. I judge the validity of your post by pointing out your statement “declassification means that it becomes public record, accessible by us the people”. Seems that http://www.justice.gov/archives/open/declassification/declassification-faq is more nuanced in terms of what is publicly available:
DOES AUTOMATIC DECLASSIFICATION EQUATE AUTOMATIC DISCLOSURE?
No. Classification is but one basis for an agency to withhold the disclosure of records or information. A declassified record may still contain information covered by additional restrictions that would require continued withholding of information from disclosure.
A sitting President has the authority to declassify AT WILL, but not by psychic mind projection.
But this article is written like a libel piece. It is shameful to even publish it here. More facts and less commentary in the Headlines would be appropriate; especially when discussing a benefactor of Israel.
@georgeg, fair enough good research! yes I didnt mean literally is posted publicity, but presumably with a FOIA request and barring any other such restriction you could get the records.