Several GOP senators raised new concerns Thursday about former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents, rejecting his claim that he could declassify secret files just by “thinking about it.”
In interviews with CNN, the senators pushed back on Trump’s assertion that everything was handled properly, diverging from many in the party who sidestepped questions on the issue or staunchly defended the former president.
Asked about Trump’s claim on Fox News that he could just declassify documents by thinking about it and there’s no process he goes through to do that, Senate Whip John Thune told CNN there is a process for declassifying documents.
“And I think it should be observed and followed. And I think that should apply to anyone who has access to or deals with classified information,” Thune said.
“I think the concern is about those being picked up by the White House without some way of declassifying or having classified documents removed — without some kind of proper safeguards in place,” the South Dakota Republican continued, adding, “I think it’s what the Ministry of Justice is seeking”.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a two-term Republican from North Carolina who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told CNN he believes there is a process a President must follow to declassify records.
“I think there’s a formal process that has to go through, that has to go through and be documented,” Tillis said. “And to the extent that they were declassified, they went through the process, that’s fine. … As I understand the requirements of the Executive Branch, there is a process that one must go through.”
Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican who sits on the Armed Services Committee, called the handling of classified documents a “very serious” issue.
“I think anyone who takes the time to properly protect that information and who has taken the time to look at what’s in the information will have serious concerns about how things could be accessed if they’re not stored properly,” Rowds told CNN. . “And once again, up here, we take it very seriously. People can be hurt, people can be killed if this information is not properly stored and disseminated.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and a top Trump ally, also rejected the former President’s claims.
“The process is probably more complicated than that,” he said of Trump’s claim that he could declassify anything by thinking about it.
The comments differ from GOP leaders such as Mitch McConnell, who has largely declined to comment on the Mar-a-Lago investigation, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who has defended Trump during the duration of the procedure.
On Thursday, other senators deflected questions on the issue.
“I think there’s a prerogative on the part of the President to declassify,” Indiana Sen. Mike Brown said when asked about Trump’s comments. “What is the correct methodology, I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out how.”
