declassify

“I commend President Trump for his courage and his commitment to transparency. I’m grateful also to Tulsi Gabbard for her dogged efforts to root out and declassify these documents.”

They later emphasised that Hegseth had the power to classify and declassify the type of details that were shared.

He added that it may have been declassified afterwards but any imminent military action involving American troops would have been classified at the time.

All the fuss about autopens is doubly strange coming from someone who argued with a straight face that he could declassify secret documents without signing anything.

Vance also made reference to the presidential election in Romania, which was annulled in December after declassified documents suggested it had been targeted by Russian state interference.