FBI Executed a Warrant at Mar a Lago; the Investigation Continues

None of the crimes alleged on the search warrant hinge in any way on classification status.

However, it doesn't matter if it's 1 item or 100, none of this material belongs being stored in a pool changing room in a Florida club behind a padlock.

 

I have seen people post physical threats and not seen the post deleted. It just depends on whether A. someone reports it, or B. a mod happens to see it. In long threads like this one it is easy for mods to miss this crap.

If you are really so upset by it... REPORT IT.

 

I agree with this on principle but the trumpistas are not sane and they could kill or kidnap the agents families. Anything to protect their great leader.

 

Once again I read a post and think this must be satire that I am missing.

 

Trump is following his usual route when accused of anything: Denial, throw out a bunch of falsehoods, claim to be a victim ....

Trump’s Shifting Explanations Follow a Familiar Playbook

 

The real victims are the ones that are tRicked into defending trump each step of the way only to have the rug pulled out from under them.

 

There are always rules with the government. Some of the rules are mind bogglingly stupid. The president just can’t call things declassified and poof they are declassified. There is a procedure.

 

19 months later and he’s still correct.

 

Even if you go with Rick’s nonsense all the material he took was reclassified by Biden. Funny how that works.

 

It should be amazing to note he actually gave that speech BEFORE the events of 1/6, but then again we already knew what Trump was long before that.

 

And here we are:
Fox host defends Trump’s handling of top secret documents: “President Nixon said if the president does it, then it is not illegal”

 

So I guess we're back on he can't declassify stuff with his mind? These people can't keep their nonsense straight

 

see post 2184 about sanity

 

Adam Schiff was absolutely correct regarding his assessment of then President Trump but that really didn't matter then and still doesn't matter to the overwhelming majority of Republicans since facts as well as the rule of law are secondary to loyalty to Trump.

 

Seems that what they're saying is that not only does Trump have the absolute power to declassify documents he can do so without following any formal procedures and additionally can do it retroactively even after he has left office.

 

And also he can whatever he wants because he was president at one point.

 

They can’t keep their nonsense straight, but they are 100% sure it’s a witch-hunt.

 

Dan, my man, I hope you didn't get the Biden reclassification from me. I was joshing in my earlier comment and have added an edit as to not confuse folks.

 

This article explains the classification system, as well as where criminal penalties might apply.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/14/us/politics/trump-classified-documents.html?
referringSource=articleShare

“On Friday, Mr. Trump’s office claimed that when he was president, he had a “standing order” that materials “removed from the Oval Office and taken to the residence were deemed to be declassified the moment he removed them,” according to a statement read on Fox Newsby a right-wing writer Mr. Trump has designated as one of his representatives to the National Archives.

“Apart from whether there is any evidence that such an order actually existed, the notion has been greeted with disdain by national security legal specialists. Glenn S. Gerstell, the top lawyer for the National Security Agency from 2015 to 2020, pronounced the idea that whatever Mr. Trump happened to take upstairs each evening automatically became declassified — without logging what it was and notifying the agencies that used that information — “preposterous.”

“The claim is also irrelevant to Mr. Trump’s potential troubles over the document matter, because none of the three criminal laws cited in a search warrant as the basis of the investigation depend on whether documents contain classified information.

“[T]he classification system exists in parallel to separate criminal penalties Congress has imposed to protect security secrets. For example, the Espionage Act of 1917 — one of the laws cited in the search warrant — protects secrets that it defines as defense-related information that could harm the United States or aid a foreign adversary. It makes no reference to classification status, and prosecutors in an Espionage Act case do not need to prove that anything was deemed classified.”