For months, former President Trump and his allies have claimed that, at the end of his term in office, he issued a broad declassification order.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1431874
For months, former President Trump and his allies have claimed that, at the end of his term in office, he issued a broad declassification order.
Sure, my client was found with the knife in his hand, splattered head to toe with the decedent’s blood, and the corpse lying at his feet. But the government hasn’t proved that she wasn’t already dead before he stabbed her 57 times.
Ignore this corrupt and/or stupid Judge and proceed defending our National Security.
“Trump argued that he should be able to dictate how federal prosecutors conduct the investigation.”
The only thing Trump should be arguing about is whether he gets prison laundry duty or prison kitchen duty.
Buffoon, idiot, insurrectionist, fascist, autocrat wannabe, damned fool. Shall I go on?
He also called into question the legality of the underlying search warrant, writing that “whether it was lawful for the Government to seize those documents has yet to be determined by a court of competent jurisdiction.”
So is this saying that Judge Cannon’s court is not the “court of competent jurisdiction”?
For months, former President Trump and his allies have claimed that, at the end of his term in office, he issued a broad declassification order.
Some of these statements — from Trump acolytes such as the former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) staffer Kash Patel — came even before the FBI executed search warrants at Mar-a-Lago last month.
So is Trump and Co throwing K$sh under the bus because he saw classified documents that hadn’t been de-classified by Trump?
“stop the FBI from using the records for its investigation”
What does this mean? How would the records be used? The records exist and can be referred to in any filings by the justice department, right? Or am I missing something? What more does the FBI need the records for? They have the records and presumably summaries of the records already in the public domain could be used, but what for? This sounds like boiler plate attorney bullshit, meant to confuse and bill hours, and maybe to delay if it’s misinterpreted. But I don’t get it
With every feint and dodge known to man, Trump eludes his pursuers. But the clock is ticking and the crimes are so great…
Judge Aileen Cannon: “Well that’s close enough … I’ll accept it as having the intention of declassification for those situations that would be beneficial for a man of Mr. Trump"s esteemed stature”
Much of what Trump does is create a hostile environment through words alone. He lies, his spokesworms lie, his lawyers lie, he defies supoenas, and the only time anyone tells the truth is when they face jail, and even then, not always.
I’ve read elsewhere Trump asserts any record from his administration is his to declare as “personal” and the PRA dictates only NARA is empowered to dispute him categorizing a document as such. And were he to lose that legal dispute with them it is only NARA that those adjudicated documents would be delivered to. Trump is saying no matter what he has he can claim it’s rightfully his, unless and until NARA alleges it isn’t. The DOJ, the courts, the intelligence services and the current administration have no rights or roles in determining or litigating any of it.
Please. My client was trying to save her, and only managed to wrest the knife away after she had plunged it into herself 57 times, including 17 times in her own back. Tragedy.
Are his lawyers really arguing that a presidents power to classify and declassify government documents is as nebulous as “all he has to do is think it and it is so”? That there is no requirement for a procedure to do this so that other government actors and we the people know what info has now been declassified and that we the people have a right to see? If that indeed is the case then i am sure that Joe Biden mentally reclassified every single document (and bear in mind that in no way do government documents belong to Trump, classified or declassified) that is in Trumps possession. And since Trump no longer has a security clearance he is no longer legally allowed to view or possess those reclassified documents. If Trump has an absolute power as President then so does President Biden. If Trump has post presidential priveledges too restrict access to documents then so does former President Obama. And if these powers can be deployed mentally Trump is screwed coming and going because Biden Reclassified everything at 12:01 pm on January 20, 2021 and Obama reasserted priveledge of all the Russia Gate info generated under his administration.
The “could have declassified it all” defense may simply anticipate the main DOJ argument that there were top secret documents in Trump’s possession that could not be declassified, and more classified documents that could not be declassified in the ridiculous way he claims to have done so.
No, they’re implying that the search warrant was somehow illegal. Bruce Reinhart is Jewish, after all.
“I contend those tourists were decapitated BEFORE they entered the Krustyland House of Knives!”
Trump may find that he has been operating under a misassumption !
“But, again, the Government has not proven these records remain classified."
This is as silly as demanding the government prove these records aren’t property of the Russian embassy. But who knows, this whackaloon judge might go for it.
. “But, again, the Government has not proven these records remain classified. That issue is to be determined later.”
Wut? Well, all they have to do is show on the classified records where the declassification stamp is and which authority approved it. Case closed. If those weren’t there, then it wasn’t declassified. The government doesn’t have to prove shit. What the hell kind of argument is that? Oh, right. Trump lawyers. If there are straws to be grasped, dammit, straws will be grasped like grim death!
Isn’t a defense at all to the 20-year felony obstruction charge. Even if Trump waved his magic short-fingered declassification hands over the documents, he still obstructed the federal investigation of his theft of them.