Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 3 Republican in the Senate, said Sunday that presidents cannot declassify documents “by saying so” or “by thinking about it,” undercutting a central argument by Donald Trump amid the former president’s legal battle with the Department of Justice.
Mr. Trump claimed last week in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he could declassify sensitive documents “even by thinking about it,” an assertion that Mr. Barrasso and other members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee dispute.
“I don’t think a president can declassify documents by saying so, by thinking about it,” Mr.