Trump tells Hannity a president can declassify documents 'even by thinking about it'

In a September 21, 2022 Fox News interview with Sean Hannity taped at Mar-a-Lago, Trump discussed documents recovered in the FBI's August 8 search and said of declassification, "There doesn't have to be a process... If you're the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it's declassified. Even by thinking about it." He added, "I declassified everything." CBS News and TheWrap reported that Trump's account of unilateral, unannounced declassification has been widely disputed, including by national security law specialists and members of his own administration, who say formal declassification requires notifying the relevant agency. In the same interview, when Hannity asked whether security footage would support Trump's separate claims that the FBI may have planted evidence during the search, Trump replied, "No, I don't think so, they're in a room."

“If you're the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it's declassified. Even by thinking about it.” Quote verified against source