https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/trump-fbi-raid-classified-nuclear-documents/671119/
This explains it pretty well. POTUS can declassify most anything he wants EXCEPT for names of spies and nuclear secrets.
If any of THOSE docs were in Trump's home, he would be in MUCH more trouble than he already is.
The main question is WHY he took them in the first place.
His main interest is and always has been how can I make money from this, whatever 'this' is.
Now the FBI disclosed it found secret docs in his BEDROOM so the claim he might make, 'Gee, I didn't know a THING about that stuff, my staff must have done this unbeknownst to me'. That argument won't fly now since Trump KNEW he had classified docs in his home.
You can be sure intel folks are going over every document to see what is there and did Trump have the power to declassify all of the docs he took.
One pesky fact, he took those docs when he was NOT POTUS. That throws some poop in the game right there.
@sonhouse
Read it and weep:
Even if Trump took classified records, that isn't a crime. The president has the inherent constitutional power to declassify any record he wants, in any manner he wants, regardless of any otherwise-pertinent statute or regulation that applies to everyone else. The president does not need to obtain Congress' or a bureaucrat's permission—or jump through their regulatory or statutory hoops—to declassify anything. The Supreme Court reaffirmed this in the 1988 case, Department of the Navy v. Egan : "The President, after all, is the 'Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States.' U.S. Const., Art. II, § 2. His authority to classify and control access to information bearing on national security...flows primarily from this constitutional investment of power in the President, and exists quite apart from any explicit congressional grant."
Thus, if Trump left the White House with classified records, then those records are necessarily declassified by his very actions. He doesn't need to label that decision for, or report that decision to, any bureaucrat who works for him. It is pretextual legal nonsense for the Biden Justice Department to pretend Trump broke any criminal statute. Indeed, it is noteworthy that Attorney General Garland apparently did not seek an opinion from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC)—the de facto general counsel for the executive branch—before ordering this home raid of his boss's chief political enemy. Perhaps Garland knew OLC wouldn't give him the answer he wanted.
https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Fgarland-wray-must-impeached-unconscionable-trump-raid-opinion-1733523
@Sleepyguy
True EXECPT for identity of spies and any doc about nukes. But the classification isn't in the warrant so it is a moot point UNLESS there were actual nuclear secrets in that mass of shyte he stole. There is no getting around the fact he stole documents belonging to the government and that happened when he was NOT POTUS, his time was up when he loaded those 27 boxes in vans.
@sonhouse saidMore from the same link:
@Sleepyguy
True EXECPT for identity of spies and any doc about nukes. But the classification isn't in the warrant so it is a moot point UNLESS there were actual nuclear secrets in that mass of shyte he stole. There is no getting around the fact he stole documents belonging to the government and that happened when he was NOT POTUS, his time was up when he loaded those 27 boxes in vans.
All former presidents also get a federally funded office, called the Office of the Former President. They get lawyers and other staff, security clearances, Secret Service protection, and secure facilities (SCIFs) for the maintenance of classified records. Even if Trump had classified records, then, they were protected and secure.
At best, then, this amounts to a dispute over the Presidential Records Act. If the boxes sought by DOJ contain presidential records, then the National Archives "owns" them—but they'll almost certainly stay with Trump in his eventual presidential library.
That's the bureaucratic dispute. That's it. This is not any crime (the Presidential Records Act is not a criminal statute), let alone one requiring a 30-person FBI brigade and unprecedented raid of a former president's home and office.
@sleepyguy saidThere is a procedure to follow to declassify documents.
@sonhouse
Read it and weep:
Even if Trump took classified records, that isn't a crime. The president has the inherent constitutional power to declassify any record he wants, in any manner he wants, regardless of any otherwise-pertinent statute or regulation that applies to everyone else. The president does not need to obtain Congress' or a bureaucrat's permission—or j ...[text shortened]... tps%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Fgarland-wray-must-impeached-unconscionable-trump-raid-opinion-1733523
He can't just wave his hand and magically declassify them.
@suzianne saidIt's not magic. It's called being President of the United States. If a President decides it is in the nation's interest to reveal a piece of classified information to the public, can't he just step up to a microphone and reveal it?
There is a procedure to follow to declassify documents.
He can't just wave his hand and magically declassify them.
@sleepyguy saidYes, but he has to do it not merely think about it.
It's not magic. It's called being President of the United States. If a President decides it is in the nation's interest to reveal a piece of classified information to the public, can't he just step up to a microphone and reveal it?
There is no record of Trump declassifying the documents seized during his term of office and he has no power to do so after his term is over. Therefore, the arguments in your cited article are unpersuasive in the extreme; Trump's act of bringing records to Margo Largo does not automatically declassify them.
Some context. This is how things were looked at in 2015 when the shoe was on the other foot and the media was hard at work trying to minimize the issue.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/hillarys-problem-the-government-classifies-everything
Note also: Hillary didn't have the power to declassify things. Trump did.
@no1marauder saidSo we're all worked up because Trump forgot to say "mother may I"? THAT'S the crime of the century?
Yes, but he has to do it not merely think about it.
There is no record of Trump declassifying the documents seized during his term of office and he has no power to do so after his term is over. Therefore, the arguments in your cited article are unpersuasive in the extreme; Trump's act of bringing records to Margo Largo does not automatically declassify them.
@techsouth saidNo, the main question is why did he keep those particular documents and what did he do or plan to do with them.
So we're all worked up because Trump forgot to say "mother may I"? THAT'S the crime of the century?
I've already said I don't think he'll be charged with merely possessing them except, perhaps, as a lesser crime.
@no1marauder said:
No, the main question is why did he keep those particular documents and what did he do or plan to do with them.
I see the number of boxes of documents go anywhere from 15 to 24. Whatever. A *lot* of documents.
Now let's think about that. I am still looking for how the president managed to take those docs from a "secure facility",
And I would love to know how the National Archives had no idea Trump had all those docs until a whistleblower came along.
Right now, I think this is all just a fishing expedition the Democrats are on, trying to get *anything* on Trump.
We notice that the FBI took Trump's passports, and who knows what else they took that they had no business taking!
And finally, as I sound off, I want to ask the dems in here how this raid would settle with you
had it been done to Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, or Barack Obama? C'mon, for kripes' sake. This SUCKS.
3rd world country stuff!
@no1marauder saidMaybe he had even more damning evidence that the FBI deliberately falsified evidence to try to have Trump removed from office.
No, the main question is why did he keep those particular documents and what did he do or plan to do with them.
I've already said I don't think he'll be charged with merely possessing them except, perhaps, as a lesser crime.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ct/pr/fbi-attorney-admits-altering-email-used-fisa-application-during-crossfire-hurricane
Which sounds more likely, he had damning evidence against the FBI or someone the FBI wanted to protect, or that he planned to sell nuclear secrets to Russia?
The former sounds at least possible. The later is totally laughable.
@earl-of-trumps saidIf this had been against Obama, to a man, every Democrat in the nation no matter how little direct knowledge they could possibly have would "know" for certain it was a fishing expedition and a violation of Obama's rights.
@no1marauder said:
No, the main question is why did he keep those particular documents and what did he do or plan to do with them.
I see the number of boxes of documents go anywhere from 15 to 24. Whatever. A *lot* of documents.
Now let's think about that. I am still looking for how the president managed to take those docs from a "secure facility",
And I w ...[text shortened]... arter, Bill Clinton, or Barack Obama? C'mon, for kripes' sake. This SUCKS.
3rd world country stuff!
But since it is Trump, every single one of them "know" for certain that the operation was legit and carried out by men of the highest character.