anderson, cnn has obtained this letter that was gotten by the national archives, as you said, informing former president trump that it is set to hand over these 16 presidential records from his administration, which show that trump and his top advisers were aware of the proper declassification process when he was president. our understanding is that the special counsel wants these records for the grand jury, because they may provide critical evidence that despite trump s claims, that he automatically declassified all documents, he was in fact, aware that there was a correct process to safeguard classified material. it didn t just happen with a wave of a hand. in the letter, archivist wall writes to trump, the 16 records in question are in close presidential advisers, some of them directed to you personally, concerning weather why, and how you should declassify certain classified records. anderson, what we don t know exactly what s in these 16 records yet, it certainly sug
clearly established procedures involving classified documents d. he know the right and wrong way of handling those items when he took them from the white house to mar-a-lago. cnn has learned the national archives is ready to hand over records to special counsel jack smith showing that the former president and his top adviser certainly did know. just walk us through your reporting, jamie. anderson, cnn has obtained this letter that was sent by the national archives, as you said, informer former president trump that it is set to hand over the 16 presidential records. they re from his administration which show that trump and his top advisers were aware of the proper declassification process when he was president. our understanding is that the special counsel wants these records for the grand jury because they may provide critical evidence that, despite trump s claims that he automatically declassified all documents that he took, he was, in fact, aware that there was a correc
government under the custody of the archives. and while all presidents do have broad authority, ultimate authority to declassify, there is no evidence that he, quote, automatically declassified anything. again, there is a serious process that is followed. national security agencies are brought in. as one official said to me, quote, there has to be an order. show me the order. in terms of the special counsel s investigation, what are your sources saying about how these records could potentially reveal the former president s intent? it could be critical. the records could provide insight into not only trump s intent, whether he willfully disregarded what he knew to be established protocols, and also it may speak to obviously that he may have mishandled what he knew were highly classified documents. so, what happens next?
under the presidential records act, to take those documents. that is false. those documents belong to the government under the custody of the archives. and, well all presidents do have broad authority, ultimate authority to declassify, there is no evidence that he quote, automatically declassified anything. again, there is a serious process that is followed, national security agencies are brought in, as one official said to me quote, there has to be an order, show me the order. in terms of the special counsel s investigation, what are your sources saying about how these records could reveal the presidents intent? it could be critical. the records could provide insight into not only trump s intent, whether he willfully disregarded what he knew to be established protocols, and also, it may speak to the fact that he may have mishandled what he knew were highly classified documents.