DAILY BEAST
The special counsel investigating Donald Trump’s potential mishandling of classified documents at his Florida estate is set to receive new evidence that the former president was aware of the proper process for declassification, CNN reported Wednesday. In a May 16 letter to Trump, the National Archives reportedly informed his team that it was preparing to send 16 records to special counsel Jack Smith.
“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,” acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall wrote in the letter to Trump obtained by the outlet.
A source familiar with recent grand jury testimony by former top Trump administration officials told CNN that the documents could also make clear Trump’s motive and whether he wilfully disregarded declassification protocols.
The former president has repeatedly insisted that the documents became “automatically declassified” when he took them as he left the White House.
