GOP rallies around Trump following FBI search of his estate

[fantome profane]

How in the world is that related to not being informed about what your administration is doing?

Because the DOJ is supposed to be a separate entity from the White House. And this case perfectly illustrates why. Many commentators has suggested that this was something Biden had orchestrated for political advantage. But their attempts to blame Biden are frustrated because it seems that both Biden and Garland have been following the rules and behaving ethically.

They never saw that coming.

 

[F1fan]

Search warrant shows that Trump's is under investigation for violations of the Espionage Act, NBC News reports.

This doesn't mean he is guilty of espionage, but that documents in his possession fall under this law.

Documents recovered included 4 sets that are top secret, and 6 other sets that were of various classified material. Trump had no authority to take these as he left the White House. He was given 6 months to return these documents and did not comply.

Some reports say that Trump could declassify these documents but that there is a legal procedure and only while Trump is still president. Apparently these procedures were not followed.

 

[F1fan]

Because the DOJ is supposed to be a separate entity from the White House. And this case perfectly illustrates why. Many commentators has suggested that this was something Biden had orchestrated for political advantage. But their attempts to blame Biden are frustrated because it seems that both Biden and Garland have been following the rules and behaving ethically.

They never saw that coming.

As if Biden arranged for Trump to take classified materiel, and then arranged for Trump to not return them.

At some point MAGAs need to accept that they aren't willing to hold Trump accountable for any of his misconduct. Just admit it.

 

[fantome profane]

As if Biden arranged for Trump to take classified materiel, and then arranged for Trump to not return them.

Dark Brandon indeed!

 

[Polymath257]

All politicians lie.

Trump more than usual.

 

[F1fan]

So some of the claims involving the documents from Trump's resort is that they were planted by the FBI. So this suggests a conspiracy between the DOJ, some judges, and the FBI against Trump personally.

Then the latest explanations from Trump is that any documents he took with him were to be reviewed at home. AND that if he took documents out of the security of the White House they were automatically declassified.

The problem is even though the president has the authority to declassify documents it still has to go through a declassifying process, and this is because the documents have to be labeled declassified and cleared of any data to be redacted. THEN it is declassified. This never happened with the documents that Trump took. On top of that Trump was no longer going to be president when these documents were removed from the White House, and he still had a legal obligation to turn them over to the National Archive, which he failed to do.

So which is it? Were they planted or did Trump take them home? They still weren't properly declassified. They still weren't turned over to the Archive as required by law.

Trump gets caught dead to rights and still can't just admit an error.

 

[fantome profane]

So some of the claims involving the documents from Trump's resort is that they were planted by the FBI. So this suggests a conspiracy between the DOJ, some judges, and the FBI against Trump personally.

Even more absurd than that. We are not talking about a dime bag of coke. We are talking about 12 boxes of classified information, multiple boxes of top secret sensitive compartmentalized information. This is stuff the FBI agents wouldn’t even have access to, much less be allowed to take out in their vehicles to drive to Mara Largo. Where is the footage of them carrying these twelve boxes into Trump’s place so they could plant it there? The lawyer was there, did she say she saw them bring in this stuff so they could plant it there? Don’t tell me they had twelve boxes stuffed down their pants. These people claiming this are completely out of touch with reality.

 

[wellwisher]

The problem is a President has the power to declassify documents. If Trump declassified these documents before he left office, then this is just Trump messing with the swamp. I won't get too excited. All presidents have sensitive materials usually saved for their Presidential Library.

The AG said the FBI went after Trump, because Trump had nuclear codes. This comment suggests my observation was true and they needed something that sounded scary to have a good excuse to snoop for other things.

Nuke codes do not stay the same but are constantly changed to stay one step ahead of the enemy. An old copy of a old code is no longer relevant to the safety of the nukes. Even if Trump was to enter that code it has expired. Biden has the new codes, that we need to worry about. Only the active president has the real deal.

 

[fantome profane]

The problem is a President has the power to declassify documents. If Trump declassified these documents before he left office, then this is just Trump messing with the swamp. I won't get too excited. All presidents have sensitive materials usually saved for their Presidential Library.

There are two problems with this. First there is a process for declassification, he can’t just say “I declassified all that stuff”. There needs to be a record of what documents he declassified and when. I doubt such processes were followed or such records exist. But if he did everything properly that means he declassified a whole bunch of ts/sci documents. That is really strange and really major. That would need explanation.


The second problem is that mishandling or destroying government documents is still a crime, regardless of their classification status.


(Oh and a third thing, Presidents don’t just take stuff for their Presidential library. The national archives does that.)

 

[F1fan]

The problem is a President has the power to declassify documents. If Trump declassified these documents before he left office, then this is just Trump messing with the swamp.

But it isn't that simple. To declassify documents means it has to go through the officials who are in charge of these classified documents. They are a sort of librarian who has to clearance, and they are in charge of these documents, even when a president wants access to them. When documents are declassified they have to be re-labeled as declassified so they can be cataloged in a different lace that is less secure. This did not happen.

And who exactly is the "swamp"? And why are you accusing Trump of playing games?

I won't get too excited. All presidents have sensitive materials usually saved for their Presidential Library.

But this was not a presidential library where there is expert staff securing these documents. This is where Trump is living. The government had to tell Trump to secure the documents with a padlock since they were not secure.

The AG said the FBI went after Trump, because Trump had nuclear codes. /quote]
Sounds like far right wing disinformation. Do you have any credible sources?

This comment suggests my observation was true and they needed something that sounded scary to have a good excuse to snoop for other things.

I doubt he had the nuclear codes. Reporting of how military officials dealt with Trump after he showed reasons to not trust him with classified material was to give Trump as little secret information as possible. Our own military did not trust Trump as president. That is frightening.[

Nuke codes do not stay the same but are constantly changed to stay one step ahead of the enemy. An old copy of a old code is no longer relevant to the safety of the nukes. Even if Trump was to enter that code it has expired. Biden has the new codes, that we need to worry about. Only the active president has the real deal.

Irrelevant to what Trump did, and what he was ordered to do in terms of giving back documents that were not his to keep, and his indifference to law. This is why the FBI got a warrant to receive the property off the USA. Trump is no longer president, so has to obey laws without question.

 

[SkepticThinker]

All politicians lie.

And some lie more than others. Much more.

 

[F1fan]

And now Lyndsey Graham has been ordered by a judge to testify in the Georgia election fraud case against Trump, making more of the republicans involved in the 2020 election fraud more accountable to the law. Graham has stated that he will appeal the order. Frankly I'm not sure if he has testimony that is damaging to certain parties or is just playing games. I've heard the call that Graham made to GA election officials and what he said could go both ways. It sounds like he was trying to influence the officials, but Graham claims it was just an effort to clarify the results. To my mind if he was just helping resolve the election results in a state he does not represent then he should be smart and testify truthfully. He is only making his character more in question, and seems his intentions more suspicious.

 

[metis]

It's sorta funny but pathetic how so many of the Pubs and the Donald are stumbling all over, looking for a lie that might have "legs": Trump's Shifting Explanations Follow a Familiar Playbook (yahoo.com)