Donald Trump says he can declassify top secret government documents just “by thinking about it”.

In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, the former president repeated his claim that dozens of secret and confidential papers seized at this Mar-a-Lago home had been declassified.

Asked about the process needed to do that, Mr Trump said: “There doesn’t have to be a process, as I understand it. If you’re the president of the United States, you can declasify, even by thinking about it.”

The question of whether the papers found at his Florida home remained classified or not – and how much bearing that has on whether he was allowed to have them or not – has been debated since the 8 August search.

While Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed that the papers were declassified, his lawyers have hesitated about making the same claims in court.

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