Jim Jordan says he is going off Trump’s ‘word’ on classified documents
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Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) insisted that he is going off of former President Donald Trump‘s word when it comes to whether he declassified documents. The comments come after Trump was indicted on his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
In defending Trump, Jordan said on CNN that as president, Trump had the ability to declassify materials and invoked the 1988 Supreme Court decision Department of Navy v. Egan while dismissing the indictment levied against the former president.
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“He decides. He alone decides. He said he declassified this material. He can put it wherever he wants and handle it however he wants. That’s the law. That’s the standard,” Jordan said
“Jack Smith can do all this 37 different counts or whatever he wants to do, but that doesn’t change the standard that the Supreme Court in a unanimous decision said was that. He can classify, and he can control access. He has the sole authority,” he added.
When pressed by host Dana Bash on instances in 2021 cited in the indictment where Trump allegedly said that he knew materials he was showing to other people were classified, Jordan doubled down by saying the indictment was political.
When Jordan was pressed on whether he had evidence that Trump had declassified the documents, he said he goes on Trump’s “word.”
“I go on the president’s word. He said he did. The Supreme Court said that’s what counts. We can have all the things Jack Smith wants to say, but everyone sees this for the political operation it is,” Jordan said. “The standard is the standard. I didn’t set the standard. the Constitution and the Supreme Court did. And they did it in a unanimous fashion, and it was an opinion written by Justice Blackman. That is the standard. That’s the fact. Jack Smith can write whatever he wants, but this is so political.”
Jordan then brought up the Trump-Russia investigation in the 2016 election and the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story in the 2020 election as examples on interference in Trump’s presidential bids, arguing that this indictment was a similar interference against the former president.
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In the indictment, an instance from July 2021 is detailed where, during an interview with a writer, publisher, and two members of his staff, Trump revealed a “plan of attack” that he said was prepared by the Department of Defense while he was in office. The indictment says that Trump told the group the document was “highly classified” and that “as president, I could have declassified it,” but “now I can’t.”
Trump was charged with 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information, one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of withholding a document or record, one count of corruptly concealing a document or record, one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation, one count for a scheme to conceal, and one count related to alleged false statements.