Trump: I could declassify documents by thinking about it

[Pound4abrown]

It just laughably stupid.. very, very few documents have only one copy..

It is like when we used to trade Zappa tapes, you were always looking for 1st Gen copies. So in this instance, the more copies the less troublesome they are to national security, right?
No?
Drat.

 

[Quag]

Trump's declaration is so asinine that even his most loyal supporters can't think of a way to spin it in Trump's favor.

Could this finally be the bridge too far? Probably not.

They are so far out lost at sea no bridge could ever reach them

 

[upsideguy]

Clearest example. The binder of Crossfire Hurricane documents the FBI/DOJ provided to Trump. Do you think they gave him originals? No. They gave him copies. They are not Presidential records, they are personal records. Plain and simple. This is not rocket science Mike. Because of your hatred for Trump though, you turn yourself into a pretzel just to make him look bad.

Hey Judge Rawley, practicing law again. Is your license current? Always interesting that your take on the law is 180 degrees in opposed to that of almost every legal mind I read on this subjectg.

Its not the piece of paper that is classified, its the material thereon. The fact that there are multiple copies are irrelevant.... its the same confidential information. No, the documents are not his. No real attorney has even attempted to make that case.

 

[ecofarm]

Trump should quote the Bible: "Jesus said, if ya think it ya done it."

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

You just have to "think" it, ya know?

Obama just "thought" the Clinton documents that had the Panty Sniffers all worked up were "declassified", and voila! They were. Don't you feel stupid now about screaming "Lock her up"?

He has to wave his little magic wand over the documents. Once he does that they are declassified

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

Trump: I could declassify documents by thinking about it

The former president insisted in an interview with Sean Hannity that the documents at issue in the Mar-a-Lago probe were all declassified. Evidence, he added, isn’t really needed.

www.politico.com

And his Jerry Springer IQ followers will suck this shit down.

I don't see what the problem is here.

After all, he can get elected to the office of President of the United States of America just by thinking of it, so why wouldn't he be able to declassify documents just by thinking about it.

Heck, he doesn't even have to know which documents he is declassifying, all he has to do it think "Any document marked classified that I want to have now, or ever want to have in the future is declassified - even if the document doesn't exist right now." and it is done.

After all,

Ko-Ko. Will you refrain from putting in your oar? (to Mikado) It's like this: When your Majesty says, "Let a thing be done," it's as good as done — practically, it is done — because your Majesty's will is law. Your Majesty says, "Kill a gentleman," and a gentleman is told off to be killed. Consequently, that gentleman is as good as dead — practically, he is dead — and if he is dead, why not say so?

Mikado. I see. Nothing could possibly be more satisfactory!
[SOURCE]

worked once, so why wouldn't it work now?​

 

[Credence]

Did the 11th Circuit say that Trump must comply with that EO?

The 11th circuit had nothing to do with that.
The 11th circuit appeal was to give DOJ permission to continue to investigate the classified documents that Judge Cannon ordered stopped

Judge Drearie (Special Master) requested proof and him saying he thought it or said it is not gonna do it.
He needs a paper trail which obviously he doesn't have because he did not go through the process. Had he gone through the process the documents would have been stamped "declassified and a date"

Even if he decided that a document be declassified it has to be recorded

 

[Liberal7360]

I assume you knew at this moment the rest of your post was fairly inconsequential to your targeted audience.

Yes I do.

I know that a person can fill a message box with links to honest and credible sources of information but will never be read by people like mycroft. Yet they will argue that your information is incorrect. No amount of information will ever satisfy a person like mycroft.

It's a total waste of time to provide any honest and factual information to people like that.

Which is why I didn't put any links in my reply.

I won't waste my time.

mycroft never wanted the information. All mycroft wanted was to be able to argue and "own the libs."

 

[Slyfox696]

I'm not in the least desperate because I am not invested one way or the other in Trump.

Then why would you ask for the regulations that govern declassification and then pretend they don't exist?

However, you still have yet to explain why that process includes the President, the one issuing the EO's.

I don't have to explain it, the Executive Order explains. Did you not read the link which you specifically requested?

I asked for the law specifying what the President has to do to de-classify something.

It's not a law, it's a regulation through EO.

You provided me with what the President tells others they must do.

No, I provided you with the process by which a record becomes declassified. Please don't tell me you're trying this same stupid tactic Mycroft already got beat down with.

The EO describes the process of classifying and declassifying. Nothing in the EO exempts the President from that process.

Do you not grok the difference?

I get that you're trying to deflect with fallacies. Did you read the EO or not?

That does lead me to the next question, if he temporarily de-classifies something with the intent to not have it de-classified always, is that possible as well?

Gee, if only there was some answer to a question like this...

Executive Order 13526- Classified National Security Information

obamawhitehouse.archives.gov

Why do you keep asking questions already answered?

 

[Credence]

Marking Classified National Security Information

AS REQUIRED BY EXECUTIVE ORDER 13526, CLASSIFIED NATIONAL SECURITY INFORMATION DECEMBER 29, 2009, AND I 32 CFR PART 2001, ISOO IMPLEMENTING DIRECTIVE JUNE 25, 2010

https://www.archives.gov/files/isoo/training/marking-booklet-revision.pdf

 

[DCCougar]

...the one person who can de-classsify anything he wishes, however he wants to.

That's false. Don't make stuff up. It basically comes down to: He can declassify. He didn't. End of story.

 

[JasperL]

Is there a law that says that must happen?

Well, generally in court when providing a defense against a charge, evidence matters. I mean, this could work as a defense against, say, murder: "I didn't do it!! Pinkie Swear!!"

But the court and the jury will then weigh that evidence-free statement against what evidence is available, such as in this case, the classified markings on the documents, the fact that there's no record of the alleged declassification, no list of what was declassified, no notification of the relevant agencies who were previously protecting the information, no sworn statement from anyone else of this act happening. Then reasonable people can weigh the "I did it in my mind!!!" defense versus....ALL THE OBJECTIVE EVIDENCE and make a decision accordingly.

 

[Mika-El]

Probably not - But yet one more indication as to how clueless Trump is as to the process involved when a former POTUS declassifies documents.

The thing is he's not clueless. He knows damn well what he said is bullshit. He doesn't care. The law is whatever he wants it to mean in any given moment.

I think when all is said and done at minimum Trump will be convicted of violating the Presidential Records Act, violations under the federal tax act and state tax acts, fraudulent misrepresentation in a civil law suit with New York state and perjury.

As it is, Trump's noose is as tight as it gets. Trump's GOP rump is still clinging on to him threatening to ignore the election results of mid terms and threatening to engage in violence in the streets and I think their extremist blid support is causing a schism, a badly needed one in the GOP that will lose them votes in the mid terms and cause the GOP after the mid terms to have to split from Trump. You know Trump will form a third party when and if this split from the GOP occurs and it will sometime in the next two years

It would not surprise me at all even if Trump is convicted, he will still run claiming he will pardon himself and all his supporters once he's President again,.

Trump supporters do not care has has broken the law. They never cared. In their world no law applies to him only others.

 

[Slyfox696]

That's false. Don't make stuff up. It basically comes down to: He can declassify. He didn't. End of story.

And from my understanding, he can't declassify ANYthing he wishes. There is some information (I believe relating to nuclear weapons) that even a President cannot unilaterally declassify.

 

[Callen]

WOW....just breaking Judge Cannon has struck everything from her order based on the 11th Circuit ruling. Basically, that means Trump can't appeal to the SCOTUS and no final ruling is required by the 11th!


So the classified/declassified thing is forever dead in this proceeding! Big score for the DOJ.

This is what I saw on another thread. I haven't heard it reported yet......









Akiva Cohen

@AkivaMCohen


Heads up, #LitigationDisasterTourists - Judge Cannon just issued an order in response to the 11th Circuit's stay, striking from her prior order the provisions dealing with classified documents

 

[Credence]

Then why would you ask for the regulations that govern declassification and then pretend they don't exist?

I don't have to explain it, the Executive Order explains. Did you not read the link which you specifically requested?

It's not a law, it's a regulation through EO.

No, I provided you with the process by which a record becomes declassified. Please don't tell me you're trying this same stupid tactic Mycroft already got beat down with.

The EO describes the process of classifying and declassifying. Nothing in the EO exempts the President from that process.

I get that you're trying to deflect with fallacies. Did you read the EO or not?

Gee, if only there was some answer to a question like this...

Executive Order 13526- Classified National Security Information

obamawhitehouse.archives.gov

Why do you keep asking questions already answered?

I am outta here.
Doesn't matter how many links are provided; it is obvious that certain people will NEVER read them or if they attempt to read them the content is not understood

 

[tres borrachos]

WOW....just breaking Judge Cannon has struck everything from her order based on the 11th Circuit ruling. Basically, that means Trump can't appeal to the SCOTUS and no final ruling is required by the 11th!


So the classified/declassified thing is forever dead in this proceeding! Big score for the DOJ.

I'll bet Judge Cannon liked her life better when she was an anonymous judge. The 11th Circuit just destroyed her.

 

[anatta]

Per the 11th circuit, one that, at minimum, produces legal evidence. They also referenced EO 13526.

EO dont bind the next POTUS, only his subordinate officers (agency heads etc), The Obama EO can't bind Trump

 

[WorldWatcher]

I think when all is said and done at minimum Trump will be convicted of violating the Presidential Records Act, violations under the federal tax act and state tax acts, fraudulent misrepresentation in a civil law suit with New York state and perjury.

Just to point out a technicality.

The Presidential Records Act is administrative law not criminal law. There are no criminal penalties tied directly to the PRA. That doesn't mean there are not other laws in the criminal portion of the United States Code that don't apply and may become the basis for charging crime.

Therefore a ruling under the PRA would be a civil action, not a criminal action.

WW

 

[mike2810]

Lets say that the jackass made copies of top secret documents revealing the nuclear capabilities of foreign nations. Would the copies not be just as damaging to our national security as the originals? It doesn't matter one bit if they are copies or originals (other than the likelihood that the act of making copies of such documents is illegal too). They do not belong to the jackass. They belong to the government.

Agree
The copy comment I made was based on Trump obtaining the copy legally. If in fact the documents at MAL were copies.

I highly doubt they were and Rawley is just playing his defend Trump game. NARA would not be looking for copies. Copies would also be marked as such.

 

[fmw]

Trump: I could declassify documents by thinking about it.​

Probably true since there is no law requiring a process for declassification. It would never stand up to public opinion, though. He would have done well not to say that.

 

[anatta]

I'm curious...exactly what IS the process a President must go through to declassify stuff?

there obviously is no"process"since POTUS can declassify at will..even judges cant seem to understand this

 

[JasperL]

And I suspect he is waiting for someone to formally dispute his ability to declassify stuff before he proves it.

No one disputes his ability AS PRESIDENT to declassify documents. He clearly has that authority, as POTUS. He's not President anymore.

What the DoJ is "disputing" is that he can make off with 100s of documents marked classified, some of them at the highest level, and based on no evidence that any of them are or were declassified while Trump was in fact POTUS, then, as retired rich fat man living in a resort in Florida (i.e. NOT-POTUS-ANYMORE), do whatever the hell he wants with that information, such as make copies of those e.g. TS/SCI docs, frame them, and use them as decorations in MAL and other Trump resorts. That is ultimately your argument and it's obvious nonsense.

 

[Slartibartfast]

EO dont bind the next POTUS, only his subordinate officers (agency heads etc), The Obama EO can't bind Trump

You should file a brief with the 11th circuit appellate court with that argument.

 

[Mycroft]

There you go: https://www.archives.gov/isoo/policy-documents/cnsi-eo.html

Read the thread. You are a day late and a dollar short with that link.