“I was never briefed on any such order, procedure, policy when I came in,” said the ex-White House official.
“We only informed people on a need-to-know basis.”
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I can’t help but feel the real issue is getting lost in the weeds. Excuse after excuse is discussed. But lets go back to the point. He has information of a highly sensitive nature. He supposedly, per his statements, wanted to review it while he was out of the White House. He has a standing order (haha) that it is declassified if taken to Mar-a-lago.
He is telling us that he does not consider any information to be more important than his need for convenience. That is the only bar to be crossed, suddenly if it is with him in Mar-a-lago, it is declassified. I am sure there are protocols in place, the ability to create a secure environment and manage information correctly to allow the POTUS to do his job while away. But this is not said, the materials were found stored with less security than a local rental storage concern.
That is what is important to me. He is loudly demonstrating in his defense, that he doesn’t have the responsibility or concern to guard national secrets and assets. A listing of assets in Europe, the lives attached, have no more significance than last weeks grocery list.
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Trump finally copped to taking classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, with his office claiming on Friday evening that “in order to prepare for
workgolf the next day,
FIFY.
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Now a word from a bunch of yahoos who fan the flames.
Excerpts
“So many supporters of Donald Trump have used this opportunity to go against the FBI,” host Steve Doocy said. “They’re barking up the wrong tree. Don’t blame the FBI.”
——————————————————
On Monday’s Fox and Friends , Ainsley Earhardt called out Breitbart for doxxing the two FBI agents who signed the warrant by publishing an un-redacted version of the paperwork. “They published their names, and so there’s doxxing of them trying to find their address so that these people online are talking about, you know, going to their houses,” Earhardt said, adding, “We don’t support any of that.”
—————————————
Despite excusing Trump from any personal accountability for the spiraling threats to law enforcement, Doocy nevertheless thought the former president could somehow play a role in stopping the conflagration.
“With all of these threats going around, it would ultimately be great if the former president—who has always been a great supporter of law enforcement, has posed with a thousand police departments coast to coast—it would be great if he called for an end to the violent rhetoric against federal law enforcement, and in particular the FBI that was just doing their job,” Doocy said.
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You can be in violation of the Espionage Act for merely “losing” a classified document. Also, the search warrant specifically cited Title 18 Section 793 as one of underlying crimes. That’s Espionage Act.
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The king who is situated anywhere immediately on the circumference of the conqueror’s territory is termed the enemy.
The king who is likewise situated close to the enemy, but separated from the conqueror only by the enemy, is termed the friend (of the conqueror).
— Kautilya, Arthasastra
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Awww, what a sweet birdie!
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Bolton is a day late & a dollar short yet again.
On his book tour, Nichole Wallace was grilling him about why he didn’t release his info during the impeachment - or even sooner. He just sputtered “… but Democrats… Democrats… worse … worse …”. Nichole was vibrating with anger.
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Obviously he’s a great supporter of law enforcement - he let’s them get their picture taken with him at no charge. What a guy, right?
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Thanks for that rundown, Richard. Really appreciate it!
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That’s hilarious! “No honey, we can’t go play golf right now.”
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The ex-official also pointed out that because secure facilities had been built at Mar-a-Lago during Trump’s presidency, the documents wouldn’t have needed to be declassified anyway.
Wait. Isn’t that like having your own private server for emails? 
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Right, it’s willful retention of national defense information. Just holding it when you shouldn’t have it, and being told you shouldn’t have it (the willful part) is a crime.
Whether you showed it to anyone or tried to sell it is irrelevant, although that may lead to an additional charge. Just holding it when you’ve been told to return it, is a crime that others have been charged with, and have served jail time.
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I followed her on twitter after I told myself I have plenty enough already. 
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Not the same situation as Hillary’s private email server. There was a SCIF built at Mar a Lago when he was President for secure communications and document viewing.
In theory, he could have moved sensitive documents back and forth between the White House SCIF and the one at Mar a Lago. Although there is a procedure for that; it has to be done by government courier with chain of custody recorded. If he just stuffed documents in a box and flew them down on AF1 it probably broke chain of custody.
Anyway, all of that clearance disappeared in a puff of smoke on January 20 2021 when he left office, and without any clearance by Biden to continue receiving classified information. He is now a private citizen in violation of the Espionage Act among other statutes if he kept national defense documents at Mar a Lago.
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Not the same situation as Hillary’s private email server. There was a SCIF built at Mar a Lago when he was President for secure communications and document viewing.
Thanks for breaking this down. I was just being snarky, and I know it’s a different thing entirely, but still–it’s clear that a lot of the BS that was slung at HRC can more accurately be applied to DT. As usual for him, accusation is projection.
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Trump’s been throwing around everything but the kitchen sink in his denials
Gee, Donnie. Maybe it’s time now… to throw in that kitchen sink. You’re flailing and you’ve got nothing.
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Trump’s private office, as I understand it from a diagram of MaL, was sandwiched between the clubhouse and auditorium. No way someone accidentally makes a wrong turn…
And what’s he going to do? Kick out somebody paying him over a $100,000 in membership dues alone?
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