Trump claims he had ‘absolute authority’ to declassify files found at Mar-a-Lago

The one-term president says he “can’t imagine” being indicted over scandal

Donald Trump has claimed he had “the absolute right” to declassify top secret documents that federal agents found at his Mar-a-Lago mansion.

The one-term president made the claim during an appearance on conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt’s show this week and insisted that he will not be prosecuted over it.

Hewitt asked Mr Trump if he had given “verbal orders to declassify” the highly sensitive papers that are now the subject of a criminal investigation.

“That’s correct...but I have the absolute right to declassify, absolute. A president has that absolute right, and a lot of people aren’t even challenging that anymore,” insisted Mr Trump.

The former president also told Hewitt that he “can’t imagine” being indicted over the scandal.

“Well, I can’t imagine being indicted. I’ve done nothing wrong,” he said. “Look, if you look, you know it better than anybody. You’ve covered it well. Impeachment hoax number one, I beat it. It was a total scam. Impeachment hoax number two, a total scam. I beat it. Russia, Russia, Russia, I beat it. The Mueller report, I beat it, because I did nothing wrong.”

Mr Trump then said that he doesn’t think that the American people “would stand for it.”

Currently, there are at least three separate grand jury investigations looking into the twice-impeached former president and his allies. Two of the investigations stem from Mr Trump’s attempts to remain in office against the will of voters after he lost the 2020 election.