The National Archives is turning over 16 records to Special Counsel Jack Smith that reportedly show Trump knew how the declassification process worked.
The National Archives has informed former president Donald Trump that it is set to hand over to special counsel Jack Smith 16 records which show Trump and his top advisers had knowledge of the correct declassification process while he was president, according to multiple sources.
In a May 16 letter obtained by CNN, acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall writes to Trump, “The 16 records in question all reflect communications involving close presidential advisers, some of them directed to you personally, concerning whether, why, and how you should declassify certain classified records.”
The records could show that Trump knew the correct process for declassifying records, which would blow apart his defense that he could declassify documents by saying that they were declassified, or by thinking that they were declassified.
Jack Smith may have evidence that will prove that Trump didn’t make a mistake. The former president didn’t misinterpret the law. Donald Trump apparently knew the process, ignored, and stole classified information.
The reason why Trump’s case is different from Joe Biden’s or Mike Pence’s is that both Biden and Pence complied with the law when they found records in their possession. There is also zero evidence that Biden and Pence knowingly took classified information.
Donald Trump could be facing federal charges because he broke the law, then lied to the Department of Justice, and broke the law again.
Jack Smith should be able to blow up Trump’s defense by demonstrating that former president willfully broke the law to take classified materials that did not belong to him.