Biden scoffs at Trump claim he declassified Mar-a-Lago documents: ‘Come on’

President Biden on Friday dismissed the claim from former President Trump that he broadly declassified the boxes of White House documents he took to Florida after leaving office.

Biden was dismissive about Trump’s claim that he had declassified the documents that were being kept at his Mar-a-Lago estate hours after the Justice Department released an affidavit that offered some new information about the materials recovered there.

“’I’ve declassified everything in the world. I’m president,’” Biden said sarcastically, waving his hands in the air. “Come on.”

Biden, speaking with reporters outside the White House, otherwise declined to comment on the details of the investigation into Trump.

“Let the Justice Department take care of that,” he said.

Trump’s handling of classified materials has been under intense scrutiny since the FBI searched his home earlier this month. Officials have said the search was related to sensitive government materials being kept at Trump’s estate.

The Department of Justice earlier Friday released a heavily redacted affidavit that was used to justify the search.

While the document contains little information about the search itself, it does reveal that an initial collection of boxes from Mar-a-Lago in January yielded 15 boxes containing 184 documents that were classified, secret or top secret.

Trump has defended his handling of sensitive materials in the weeks since the search in part by claiming the materials he took with him were all declassified.

But several former Trump administration officials have publicly said they were not familiar with such an order to declassify, and legal experts have said Trump could not have declassified the materials simply by saying he wanted to do so.

A White House spokesperson was asked about the affidavit after its release but declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.

Biden has also largely refrained from weighing in on the FBI search of his predecessor’s home. 

Asked Wednesday about the FBI’s actions, Biden said he had no advanced notice of the search before it happened earlier this month.