Irish Examiner view: Something rotten in Mar-a-Lago

Donald Trump may have had Hamlet in mind when he claimed presidents could declassify documents by the power of thought

Donald Trump told Fox News: 'Different people say different things, but as I understand it, if you’re the president of the US, you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified, even by thinking about it, because you’re sending it to Mar-a-Lago or wherever you’re sending it.' Picture: AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee

It had not occurred to us that Donald Trump was a student of Shakespeare, but perhaps he had Hamlet, another tragic and deranged figure, in mind when he claimed in a Fox News interview that presidents could declassify documents by the power of thought. 

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so,” said Hamlet, meaning that personal perspective changes everything.

In his discussion with Fox anchor Sean Hannity, the former US president was explaining why secret documents, including reports relating to nuclear weapons, were found at his Florida resort, at Mar-a-Lago, in an FBI raid last month. 

Mr Trump said: “Different people say different things, but as I understand it, if you’re the president of the US, you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified, even by thinking about it, because you’re sending it to Mar-a-Lago or wherever you’re sending it. 

"There doesn’t have to be a process. There can be a process, but there doesn’t have to be. You’re the president — you make that decision.” 

Well, that’s all OK then, apart from the judge, Raymond Dearie, telling Trump’s lawyers that unless they can produce evidence that the seized documents were declassified, he will presume that they were not, telepathic powers notwithstanding. 

Separate from this case, in New York, the attorney general, Letitia James, has hit Mr Trump with a €255m (civil) lawsuit, citing “staggering” amounts of falsified business information and fraud involving lenders and insurers in his real-estate empire. 

Trump has not ruled out running again for the White House in 2024, but investigations could rob him of the time to do that.