I was about to eat lunch, but suddenly: The Affadivit!
ADDED: From the NYT:
The affidavit — including more than three dozen pages of evidence and legal arguments presented by the Justice Department’s national security division plus supporting documents — describes the government’s monthslong push to recover highly classified materials taken from the White House by a former president who viewed state documents as his private property....
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97 comments:
Should be a quick read with so much blacked out.
Luckily there's isn't much to read, seeing as they blacked out almost the entire thing.
And in every other dispute since the PRA became law the Supreme Court sided with the former Presidents and specifically said it’s THEIR call what to keep NOT the archivist’s call. There is no historical basis for subpoenas and armed raids. Garland and Wray and Biden deserve prompt impeachment and removal.
Let me be one of the first to say, as expected there is no there there because it's essentially all redacted. I call BS. In reality they have released nothing of substance but they get to pretend they are being somewhat open and transparent. More evidence theat there's nothing there. If there was anything truly damning about Trump in the affidavit it would not have been redacted (and would have been leaked to the NYT by now).
"Well, I guess we all have to read this thing now."
Redactions take very little time to "read".
Won't take you long. They blacked most of it out. But don't worry. They will leak all the bad stuff about Trump to the New York Times and Washington Post.
They even redacted the justifications for their redactions. Wow.
What a f*ckin' joke! I would call this performative magistrating.
- Krumhorn
Not much there that hasn't been leaked already. The redactions are just what i suspected they would be; anything meaningful or exculpatory.
A stupid story for stupid people.
If you want some real information here is a start:
Clinton kept presidential records in his sock drawer.
The court determined that the President has this power. It is spelled out in black and white in the Presidential Records Act.
Courts have opined on this several times. Trump did exactly what every president did before him and the Democrats are pretending that reality does not exist.
The NYT's is writing this story as if they can pretend the courts have not ruled on this and that their readers are so stupid they will not look for themselves.
GOP presidential hopefuls reading and going, YES!
Biden campaign operatives going, SHIT.
So the raid WAS 100% justified and obviously the rational course of action. Scary that he was withholding such sensitive info and actively shuffling the docs around.
How will the brownshirts defend their traitorous deity? See below.........
Nothing new. The government is going to push the classified documents angle, we will see how that flies. No explanation of why they needed a raid as they were already given access. The information I was interested in is redacted.
BaH no need. It is too redacted to offer up anything useful. Well maybe clicks are useful.
So who was on the Privilege Review Team?
No. Everything worth reading has been redacted.
Look at the redactions! LOL. I'll bet zero of these redactions, except to exclude the name of the FBI agent are neccessary. I'd estimate at HALF the affadavit if blacked out, and much of relates to the DOJ input.
At bottom the whole thing is bullshit. The FBI agent claims Trump took classified documents he shouldn't have and/or they weren't properly stored. How that justifies a Nine hour search or taking EVERY document Trump had created for FOUR YEARS is never explained.
Nor did the DOJ - because its blacked out - explain why Trump couldn't declassify the Docs BEFORE he left the Presidency.
INTRODUCTION AND AGENT BACKGROUND
1. The government is conducting a criminal investigation concerning the improper
removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized spaces, as well as the unlawful
concealment or removal of govermnent records. The investigation began as a result of a referral
the United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) sent to the United
States Department of Justice (DOJ) on Febmary 9, 2022, hereinafter, "NARA Referral." The
NARA Referral stated that on January 18, 2022, in accordance with the Presidential Records Act
(PRA), NARA received from the office of former President DONALD J. TRUMP, hereinafter
"FPOTUS," via representatives, fifteen (15) boxes of records, hereinafter, the "FIFTEEN
BOXES." The FIFTEEN BOXES, which had been transpotted from the FPOTUS property at
1100 S Ocean Blvd, Palm Beach, FL 33480, hereinafter, the "PREMISES," a residence and club
known as "Mar-a-Lago," fmther described in Attachment A, were reported by NARA to contain,
among other things, highly classified documents intermingled with other records
The opening statement of the warrant is legally indefensible. It says there was a pissing contest between the President and the head of NARA. As Presdent, Trump had ultimate declassification authority- operiod. End of discussion. Doesn't matter if the markings are still there. The opening statement is BS- everything that follows, redacted or not, is BS to back up the initial BS.
three dozen pages
Or about 10 pages, once you're done with the redacting. Only the throat clearing and the wherefore's remain. This will satisfy no one.
4. I am a Special Agent with the FBI assigned to the Washington Field Office [redacted]. During this time, I have received training at the FBI Academy located at Quantico, Virginia, specific to counterintelligence and espionage investigations. ...
As the 2020 Presidential election approached, FBI officials asked Facebook, Twitter and other such companies to suppress information and discussions about Hunter Biden's laptop computer.
The FBI still believes firmly that Russian Intelligence hacked Hillary Clinton's computers and intended to leak embarrassing files to the public shortly before the election -- as an "October Surprise" -- in order to help Donald Trump defeat her. Where possible, Russian Intelligence might also falsify some of those files in order to increase the embarrassment.
However, that "October Surprise" did not happen in the 2016 election.
I speculate that the FBI has a similar belief about Hunter Biden's laptop computer. The FBI thinks that Russian Intelligence was able to steal his files, might falsify some of them, and then ultimately might leak them to the public in order to embarrass Joe Biden.
That "October Surprise" did happen partially in the 2020 election, the FBI believed, but the FBI managed to contain its political effect.
======
I do not know whether now, in October 2022, the FBI still believes that Russian Intelligence actually did steal Hillary Clinton's and Hunter Biden's computer files and actually did intend to falsify them and release them to the public.
In general, though, the FBI still believes that Putin's Government has tried to meddle in US elections in order to help Trump win.
======
FBI Counter-Intelligence has believed that Trump has been compromised by Russian Intelligence for many years -- at least since 1987.
FBI Counter-Intelligence officer Peter Strzok even wrote an entire book on that subject -- Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump, published just two years ago, in 2020.
Although Strzok was fired from the FBI, he was not fired for heretical views. Rather, he was fired because he got caught sending reckless, obnoxious text messages. For all that the public knows, his published opinion that Trump is compromised by Russian Intelligence is still shared by many FBI Counter-Intelligence officials.
The FBI belief that Trump is compromised and therefore colludes secretly with the Russian Government is an important context of the FBI's current investigation of Trump and his possession of secret documents in his home.
Reminds me of the Strzok-Page texts. How many of these redactions are legit,and how many are CYA?
Inferring the content from between the missing links... the liberal redactions: P-E-O-P-L-E... P-E-R-S-O-N O-F O-R-A-N-G-E B-A-D
The NYT's is writing this story as if they can pretend the courts have not ruled on this
NYeT publishes to trials by press.
The folks who chanted 'lock her up' seem to think they have some sort of moral high ground lol.
Vindman showed off his Purple Heart and said no President was permitted to disagree with him about policy regarding Ukraine. Or no President was permitted to suggest to a foreign leader that the activities of a U.S. citizen in the other's country should be investigated. Or no President should contradict the "inter-agency consensus." Shut up you elected fool--the bureaucrats are talking now. Or no one should hurt Joe Biden's chances of defeating Trump.
Vindman has become a star on Larry David, where everyone keeps praising his patriotism and virtue. So NARA guy thinks now is his chance: nail Trump, bureaucrats right, Trump wrong, and the plaudits and more tangible benefits will follow. Previously respected Christopher Wray and Merrick Garland go along with this. (What an opportunity we missed with Garland not on the Supreme Court! Olive Wendell Holmes! Parents not permitted to attend school board meetings in case they find out what is going on!). Epstein lawyer, now a magistrate judge, less surprisingly goes along with this. He probably realizes that Epstein associates who don't play ball might come to a bad end, like Steven Hoffenberg.
Proven findings:
Documents in four piles. Some documents placed in the wrong pile according to Trump's instructions.
Insecure location--except for the Secret Service detail.
Overdue parking fines. (OK, I'm making that up).
Alleged findings:
Overdue library books. An obvious fraud, Don and Melania never borrow from a library. FBI tried to get library to press charges, but apparently libraries don't bother with fines anymore; can't justify the staff time.
Everything else redacted except "Fuck Trump." When you read it aloud it becomes the voice of Dreyfus: "Clouseau, Clouseau."
30 agents for 9 hours. Not as exciting as faking an assassination attempt on a Governor, but hey, F-L-A baby.
A major -- but still mysterious -- consideration in this affair is Trump's unsuccessful effort to declassify all the US Government's documents about RussiaGate.
The most famous such documents are from the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation, which was established in July 2016. For sure, though, the FBI conducted several earlier investigations about Trump's involvement with the Russian Government or with Russian organized crime.
I speculate that President Trump acquired many such documents while he was the US President and that he intended to declassify all of them and release them to the public. However, the Deep State prevented him from doing so.
When the Republican Party becomes the House majority (and perhaps also the Senate majority), then Congress should investigate that frustration of Trump's attempt to declassify and release those documents.
How did it happen that this declassification has not happened?
Also, the public eventually should be informed what role those documents play in the FBI's raid on Trump's home. How many of the classified documents in Trump's home were related to investigations of Trump's suspected collusion with Russia?
What was the security classification of those documents? For example, how many were classified Top Secret? What portion of the Top Secret documents were RussiaGate documents?
To what extent was the FBI raid on Trump's home motivated by a particular intention to confiscate Trump's RussiaGate documents.
To what extent was the FBI raid motivated by Trump's RICO lawsuit against DOJ/FBI officials who had concocted various investigations and persecutions of President Trump?
"FromMay16-182022 FBI agents conducted a prelimina1y reviewoftheFIFTEEN BOXES provided toNARAand identified documents with classification markings infourteenofthe FIFTEEN BOXES. A prelin1ina1y triageofthe documents with classificationmarkings revealed the following approximate numbers: 184 unique docmnents bearingclassification markings including 67 documents marked as CONFIDENTIAL 92 documentsmarked as SECRET and 25 documents marked asTOPSECRET. Fm1her the FBI agentsobserved markings reflecting the following compa11ments/dissemination controls: HCS FISAORCON NOFORN and SI. Basedon mytraining and experience I know that documentsclassified at these levels typically contain NDI."
(Cut and pasted from the affidavit)
Subsequent to that we find that the DOJ ordered Trump to keep the materials in the same room, "secure them", on June 8th. Then all we can see is that after the DOJ told the President to keep the materials on hand and "secure them", and Trump's attorney wrote back acknowledging receipt of the ltter, there is no further disclosure of action by DOJ.
The next thing we see is that 2 months later they raided his damn residence to forcibly remove the documents.
This affidavit, as released, is incredibly damning to the DOJ and FBI.
But really, the exhibit at the end is the best. On May 25, 2022 Trump's lawyer wrote the DOJ and said the President had offered to transfer the boxes to NARA, did so with 15 boxes, NARA or others then leaked that supposedly Trump was withholding classified documents, Trump further cooperated, leaks INCREASED about an investigation into Trump, and basically that the entire executive branch took zero action to create an appearance of fairness, good faith, or reasonable efforts. Nor did they attempt to provide any evidence the documents were classified, only that they were marked classified - which could easily be outdated.
This appears to be headed to a true constitutional crisis over the power of the President to simply say "Nope, not classified" and be done with it. And worse, it reads like classic bureaucracy bullshit because it comes across as "Well the President didn't follow the process for declassification we, the bureaucracy, set up, and therefore we, the bureaucracy, can't prove they were de-classified."
I'd say what was released was pretty damning. To the government.
transpotted?
Blogger TeaBagHag said...
So the raid WAS 100% justified and obviously the rational course of action. Scary that he was withholding such sensitive info and actively shuffling the docs around.
The reaction of the Ingas of the world.
It's OK because the search warrant wasn't even valid.
Quick peek:
32 pages, 19.5 of which are blacked out. (2/3)
Worse, the intro and statutory authority section, and conclusion and “procedures on execution” (the beginning and end) consist of 10 pages with 1/2 page blacked out.
So the other 22 pages (the meat) have 19 pages blacked out.
It’s a crock of shit!
Oh, and the first comments I heard on the news were “there are some redactions but there’s also a lot here that we will be able to read.” Talk about spin.
It's so disheartening that you people are disappointed ☹️, unexpectedly. Chin up, lads. The Dims will find a way to make it a self inflicted wound.
"Based on my experience and training, I am familiar with efforts used to unlawfully collect, retain, and disseminate sensitive government information, including classified NDI."
That statement from the FBI man's affidavit is unquestionably true.
It's also true if he wrote it in an affadivit.
Blogger Readering said...
GOP presidential hopefuls reading and going, YES!
I have a couple of questions for Readering. Your support for the Biden regime seems complete. Do you agree on policies or is this simple emotion?
1. Do you agree that oil and gas production must end to save the planet ?
2. Will windmills and solar panels replace our energy needs?
3. Is our border to be nonexistent forever?
4. Should we stop eating meat to save the planet?
5. Do we need to stop using chemical fertilizers to save the planet?
6. Should we be prepared to eat grasshoppers and other insects to avoid using fertilizers to grow crops?
Just a few issues I wonder about.
It is probably easier to read in the original Braille.
TeaBagHag said...
So the raid WAS 100% justified and obviously the rational course of action. Scary that he was withholding such sensitive info and actively shuffling the docs around.
How will the brownshirts defend their traitorous deity? See below.........
**************
Affidavits and search warrants are not indictments or convictions. They merely lay the basis for obtaining evidence. We don't know anywhere near the facts yet. Something in long redactions might wind up sinking the entire search warrant: we just don't know.
But: take pride in knowing you have just won the Gold Metal in Olympic-class TDS Conclusion Jumping.
There must be some pages missing, all I'm seeing is what we already know - the search is warranted because there might be classified documents that were improperly removed. Oh, and the agent says that they are an expert in spotting classified documents being stolen, so it must be true.
Trump did exactly what every president did before him and the Democrats are pretending that reality does not exist.
Achilles sums up the last six years.
WSJ has this teaser paragraph:
"Affidavit Cited Top Secret Papers Found at Trump’s Home
Boxes retrieved from former President Donald Trump’s home in January contained top-secret national defense information, including some from human intelligence sources, and ultimately led the FBI to search the premises in August, according to the heavily redacted affidavit."
Does the documents really say "including some from human intelligence sources"?
No comments allowed on the article as of yet.
Scary that he was withholding such sensitive info and actively shuffling the docs around.
This literally scares you?
Like, hiding under the covers waiting for the all-clear signal so you can come out kind of scared?
Here's a question: why did they wait until the final minute to release it?
The redactions had been made and approved by the judge yesterday. The FBI had until 12PM today to release it.
Why was it so important to keep the redacted document from the American people until the very last possible minute? Did they think they'd be aiding the domestic terrorists by releasing it an hour or two earlier? Would they have set off a coup if they released it last night?
Oh right, the FBI had to tell the media what was in it last night, so they could write their articles this morning, and then publish them immediately upon the document's release.
If the "good media" were surprised along with everyone else, the "bad media" might get a bad narrative started before the good narrative could be written.
FBI ass covering 101.
Answering my own question, yes it does say "human intelligence sources". Why do I suspect that's Steele? LOL!
So the raid WAS 100% justified and obviously the rational course of action. Scary that he was withholding such sensitive info and actively shuffling the docs around.
See, it's shit like this that makes me realize I want nothing to do with people like you. I don't even want you breathing near my airspace.
You don't know if the raid was justified. None of us do.
You don't know if it was the rational course of action. None of us do.
You don't know if he was withholding sensitive information. None of us do.
Seriously. Pull your head out of your ass.
Anyone's guess where DoJ intends to go with this. Purely as a legal matter, if the gravamen of the investigation is Trump's decision while he was president to send all those boxes of stuff to his Florida residence, they will have to deal with a president's constitutional power to unclassify anything and everything. Whether Congress can limit that power, or require that it be exercised in some special way, are obvious and open issues. So, if DoJ seeks an indictment, it will be a fun few years as the courts sort out all of that.
As a political matter, it's really bizarre if DoJ marches down that road. Not only do they have to deal with the Hillary! email mess (where obviously confidential stuff during her term as Sec of State was being stored on her home-brewed server readily hackable by all of our adversaries, resulting in no prosecutorial action at all by DoJ), but there's all that 'get Trump' stuff from the Russian collusion fakery as well. Easy to see how that supports a claim that this latest attack on Trump is just a continuation of dirty politics and Dem lawfare. For everyone on the cheering squad among Dems, there is someone on the opposite team seething about a politically corrupt DoJ and FBI. Net result and equally rabid team on the other side -- net result, DoJ and FBI become enemy no. 1 for a big part of the country. Way to go, AG Garland! Let's hope there are still some adults on the 7th floor of DoJ HQ.
As for electoral impact, it's a self-own goal. Likely just to make Trump an unstoppable political martyr (if he beats the prosecution) or remove him as the potential Rep nominee (if convicted). Either way, Dems are screwed, Trump being probably the weakest candidate the Reps could nominate in 2024 except if he beats the latest Dem attempt to take him down (which I think would offset a lot of the heavy negative baggage he would otherwise bring to the game).
From paragraph 80:
"...the FBI has not yet identified all potential criminal confederates.... "
This is about selling nuke secrets to white supremacist insurrectionists.
This looks like it was done by Yossarian from "Catch-22."
I had an acquaintance congratulate me as a librarian, on the fact that a librarian will take Trump down.
I rolled my eyes. The Organs are playing a sadistic game of keep-away with Trump. They get to define and redefine the issue, in a blend of Kafka and Orwell, creating imaginary hoops for him to jump . . .
Process as punishment on steroids.
This seems similar to the FISA court affidavits for the Carter Page/Trump Tower surveillance. They redacted things that would give away the 'sources'. It looked very serious, but then we finally found out everything was sourced from the Clinton campaign disinformation and you realized what a big pile of garbage it all was.
“The problem is that Reinhart is a so-called magistrate judge. Many commentators have focused on his personal history and political leanings, but much more significant is that he is not really a judge. To be precise, he is not a judge of a court of the United States. The judicial power of the United States is vested in its courts. In the exercise of this power, judges of those courts can issue search warrants. But a magistrate judge is just an assistant to a court and its judges. Not being a judge of one of the courts of the United States, he cannot constitutionally exercise the judicial power of the United States. That means he cannot issue a search warrant.”
This so-called magistrate isn't even a judge. Has no legal authority to issue search warrants. Next time, Trump should tell the FBI to go fuck itself and be ready to defend his property with deadly force should that becomes necessary.
https://meaninginhistory.substack.com/p/about-the-redacted-mal-raid-affidavit?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share
Once more the Narrative depends on an assumption that DJT was not a legitimate President which is the one thing that all of the elites in wealth and power agreed. He was just a Bronx builder’s kid.
The released portion of the affidavit - not much to read. Won't take long to read it.
When Trump's president again, he should just declassify all documents in the corrupt US governments possession. That way, this kind of crap can't be done to him again.
The next Republican president should be taking notes on how they get you. Because they will get you. Declassify everything. Pardon everybody (including yourself) and by all means declare the other party domestic terrorists and just start shipping them to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Drone any Democrat terrorists who resist.
When Trump's president again, he should just declassify all documents in the corrupt US governments possession. That way, this kind of crap can't be done to him again.
The next Republican president should be taking notes on how they get you. Because they will get you. Declassify everything. Pardon everybody (including yourself) and by all means declare the other party domestic terrorists and just start shipping them to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Drone any Democrat terrorists who resist.
When Trump's president again, he should just declassify all documents in the corrupt US governments possession. That way, this kind of crap can't be done to him again.
The next Republican president should be taking notes on how they get you. Because they will get you. Declassify everything. Pardon everybody (including yourself) and by all means declare the other party domestic terrorists and just start shipping them to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Drone any Democrat terrorists who resist.
"The NYT's is writing this story as if they can pretend the courts have not ruled on this and that their readers are so stupid they will not look for themselves."
C'mon Achilles. The NYT wrote this story because they have no interest in truth, it's intentional. And their readers have no interest in it either.
Great work by DOJ in performing its part in this Kabuki. Interesting to watch the ever-refreshing stream of irony as the real agenda —Get Trump— flickers at the edge of perception; and the observer’s eye jumps the black blocks of redaction, remaining locked on the exquisitely formal dance of phrases that purport to describe zealous adherence to due process.
Whoever staged this has advanced training in Stalinist Show Trials.
teabaghag is Inga. Respond accordingly.
easy reading for Inga and Howard
Blogger Howard said...
It's so disheartening that you people are disappointed ☹️, unexpectedly. Chin up, lads. The Dims will find a way to make it a self inflicted wound.
Howard, the "own goal" was the raid. Your goofs have re-elected Trump. I expect that Trump has copies of the documents, which describe the Russia Hoax and Hillary's role, in another place. Probably with his real lawyer. The girls who have appeared, and who Readering has ridiculed, are the front of the organization.
Karl Rove, who served as a senior adviser to former President George W. Bush, said on Friday that former President Trump did not have the authority to take presidential documents with him to his Mar-a-Lago residence when he ended his term.
“Why he was holding on to these materials when he had no legal authority to do so under the Presidential Records Act is beyond me,” Rove, a Fox News contributor, said during an appearance on the network...
...“The Presidential Records Act is clear,” Rove said on Fox News.
“A president does not have the right to leave the White House and pick and choose what documents he wants to take with him,” he continued. “He can ask for copies, but those are the property of the American people, and since 1978 no president has left with sort of picking and choosing their own documents.”
The folks who chanted 'lock her up' seem to think they have some sort of moral high ground lol.
How many times does it need to be explained to you the two situations aren't even remotely comparable?
What don't you understand about that?
Jim at (to Dumb Lefty Mark): "How many times does it need to be explained to you the two situations aren't even remotely comparable?
What don't you understand about that?"
There is no amount of times you can explain to dumb lefty that being Secretary of State and illicitly setting up your own homebrew server and having classified document headers "scrapped" and loaded onto that unsecure server is not the same thing as being the elected Commander in Chief and having full discretionary power to declassify anything you want for any reason you'd like and that power has been fully vetted thru multiple court cases over the last 40 years.
The russia collusion/Hillary hoax liars are just going to keep pushing their latest lies.
“teabaghag is Inga. Respond accordingly.”
Um, no. I have no need to use a sockpuppet, you dummy.
NeverTrump/AlwaysDemocraticals are scrambling right now to find ever greater and more amazing rationales for defending their deep state New Soviet Democratical allies.
Karl Rove is no different than David French or Jonah "Goucher College All Star!" Goldberg and the entirety of the Lincoln Pedophile Project.
Trump is already gaslighting his followers. He proclaimed, no nukes! He didn’t even consider that there would be no mention of such things in the affidavit that wouldn’t be redacted. There was mention that he had documents that had to do with NDI, National Defense Information. What did he want with such documents?
Some enterprising reporter should ask Durham's office whether they objected to or requested redactions from the affidavit in order to protect their ongoing investigation. That might provide some insight into whether the documents at issue pertain to the Russiagate fiasco and/or Trump's RICO suit.
If so, the DOJ/FBI could arguably be acting in some degree of good faith (although I personally think the ongoing endless Durham investigation is a means to keep the FBI/DOJ corruption under wraps). If not, then either Trump did something really bad (in which case they should indict him now) or (most likely) this is an effort to create the appearance of criminality over a minor records dispute.
Michael K, seems wise for you and your daughter to stay way from discussing politics.
From what is not redacted, it clearly shows the "FPOTUS" was cooperating. There was a question as to whether or not the documents were classified and if classified then (and I would agree with this) Mar-a-lago is an insufficient place to store classified data. The problem is whether or not the documents were still classified when the President previously declassified them. Well, this has been addressed in federal court and answered: "Here, the Archivist has no statutory powers related to either the reclassification of records or the retrieval of improperly classified records"
The current Archivist decided they did have such power and declared that the documents in Trump's possession are classified and therefore they able to retrieve improperly classified records. That's it. And despite the previous cooperation with Trump; NARA and the FBI decided cooperation was no longer sufficient and raided Mar-a-lago.
Oh, just saw this above "“He can ask for copies, but those are the property of the American people, and since 1978 no president has left with sort of picking and choosing their own documents.”" We know that Obama did leave with originals. The previous NARA Archivist ended up agreeing to a Memorandum of Understanding allowing Obama's people to make digital copies and give the digital copies to NARA, not the originals. Please, don't believe me or Karl Rove, here's the blog post by the Archivist on the MOU: "Approximately 30 million pages of unclassified Presidential records at the Obama Library will be scanned, and the scanned images and associated metadata will become part of the Electronic Records Archives.
Because the records are governed by the Presidential Records Act (PRA), the archival staff of the Obama Library will review the material before their release. The records will then be made digitally available to the public through the National Archives Catalog and the Obama Library website."
While mentioning the statutes, it neglected to include the SC decision that a president can declassify anything by any means he determines and the DC court decision that the President can determine what is presidential and what is personal. These are unreviewable.
This was a heist under color of law to regain control of the materials and reclassify them in an attempt to place them out of Trump's reach. Meanwhile the FBI/DOJ will continue it's campaign of leaks to the media.
Um, no. I have no need to use a sockpuppet, you dummy.
Stop lying Inga, I am you. These folk are mostly Mensa types and can’t be fooled by your shenanigans.
Admit it, before they beat on you with a trump flag pole.
Its the same ol' BULLSHIT we had to deal with for 4 years.
Hello America. The FBI is investigating Trump. Again.
1) For what? Answer: Oh, sorry that classified. Very hush,hush.
2) What did Trump do wrong? Answer: Here are some pages (redacted). Trump's obviously guilty of something and we'd prove it - if we could tell you. But we won't because...reasons.
3) Why is that? Answer: Oh, its an "on-going investigation". very hush, hush. classified, doncha know. Besides why would a Obama supporting, liberal democrat judge give us a warrant, unless we were right?
4) Last time - with Trump Russia - you lied your ass off, why should we believe you now? Answer: Gosh. We're just counting on the stupidity of the USA public. They always believe "where there's smoke, there's fire". Plus you have plenty of goobers who think that BOTH SIDES ARE WRONG. We'll just keep on stonewalling, being secretive and INVESTIGATING.
Cause' you're too dumb to see through it.
The current Archivist decided they did have such power and declared that the documents in Trump's possession are classified and therefore they able to retrieve improperly classified records. That's it.
The stuff was already classified. The archivist did not make them classified.
And despite the previous cooperation with Trump; NARA and the FBI decided cooperation was no longer sufficient and raided Mar-a-lago.
If Trump had been cooperating they wouldn't have found all those classified documents would they?
‘Stop lying Inga, I am you. These folk are mostly Mensa types and can’t be fooled by your shenanigans.
Admit it, before they beat on you with a trump flag pole.”
Haha! Ooops I shouldn’t laugh, no laughing!
Firstly off, the president's power to classify or declassify information is plenary.
"The majority ruling in the 1988 Supreme Court case Department of Navy vs. Egan — which addressed the legal recourse of a Navy employee who had been denied a security clearance — addresses this line of authority."
If Trump told the bag boy on the first tee that the contents of that truck over there are declassified that is sufficient - even if the response was "no comprende senor".
Secondly, there are numerous questions about the validity of the warrant - specificity, actual crimes, authority of a magistrate.
Thirdly, I suspect that this whole shebang is orchestrated by Trump. This is beyond 4-D chess. This is no-limit hold-em.
Blogger rcocean said...
Its the same ol' BULLSHIT we had to deal with for 4 years.
Hello America. The FBI is investigating Trump. Again.
1) For what? Answer: Oh, sorry that classified. Very hush,hush.
Thanks man, a very clear statement of the truth.
If Trump had been cooperating they wouldn't have found all those classified documents would they?
"Cooperating " in what, Rice? Self immolation?
Blogger readering said...
Michael K, seems wise for you and your daughter to stay way from discussing politics.
Oh, yes. I feel sorry for her but can do nothing about her delusions.
Blogger Inga said...
“teabaghag is Inga. Respond accordingly.”
Um, no. I have no need to use a sockpuppet, you dummy.
Well, she did sound as stupid as you. Honest mistake.
If Trump had been cooperating they wouldn't have found all those classified documents would they?
You haven't read the affidavit: From May 16-18,2022, FBI agents conducted a preliminary review of the FIFTEEN BOXES provided to NARA and identified documents with classification markings in fourteen of the FIFTEEN BOXES.
You're just a troll spreading misinformation.
The problem is whether or not the documents were still classified when the President previously declassified them
Just because he says they were declassified, doesn't mean that they were declassified. Even if he "can declassify anything by any means he determines" (which is bullshit and a complete misreading of the law), at the very least he has to tell someone he has declassified a document (even if he said, which is also apparently bullshit, "anything I take home with me is automatically declassified" is no way to run a government).
Oh, and btw, the cases you are relying on are about which documents the president can or cannot take with them, are about documents generated in the White House. There is no hint that a document generated by CIA or DOD can be called "private documents" that belong to the president (the issue with the tapes Clinton retained was an issue of whether an interview was his personal documents or official documents).
According to this, the Epstein magistrate could not approve a search warrant anyway.
"The stuff was already classified. The archivist did not make them classified."
No, but Trump had the unilateral power to make them unclassified.
"If Trump had been cooperating they wouldn't have found all those classified documents would they?"
If Trump were not cooperating, they would not have found anything.
My theory is that Trump had copies of Crossfire Hurricane documents that detail how the FBI, NSA, CIA and others have been spying using international resources (Brits/Australians) on domestic political targets. Someone calls a buddy in the UK government who tells a FBI agent a story about a target (or associate of a target). The FBI opens a FISA investigation and hoovers (pardon the pun) up all of that targets e-mail, internet history, phone calls, etc. That information "leaks" to appropriate political powers.
The FBI needed to get those documents. They can't let Trump have them as a (pun incoming) Trump card.
The problem they will soon understand is that there's no way to determine if there aren't OTHER copies somewhere. They've crossed the Rubicon now, and they will likely have to indict him. The problem for them is that being indicted won't stop Trump from running and even perhaps winning.
Law school hypothetical: Assume that the Constitution vests ultimate declassification authority with POTUS. A simple verbal "this is declassified" would suffice.
Given that stipulation, does the next President have the authority to "re-classify" the document?
In my hypothetical, the copy the President has is declassified, but the original is classified. If the NYT prints the first copy is it still classified?
Are the Pentagon Papers still classified? Could Johnson have just mailed them over to the NYT? Could Nixon have tried to classify it again? Could the Nixon DOJ have started arresting subscribers of the NYT for possession of classified documents?
This is why its stupid that the DOJ are playing these games. It threatens the very existence of their agencies.
p.s. remember the Rubicon was a small stream. It wasn't some mighty river. The physical act of crossing the Rubicon wasn't difficult for Caesar. It was the symbolic act that made it dangerous. The FBI did a simple act they do thousands of times a day (search warrant execution). I'm sure they thought it was no big deal. But it could end up ending the agency.
Interesting that the FBI never interviewed Tony Bobulinski.
There was mention that he had documents that had to do with NDI, National Defense Information. What did he want with such documents?
Hey Inga, given that the Steele Dossier contained information on Russian spying against the United States could the FBI say that the Dossier was "National Defense Information"?
Just because they say the documents might be NDI doesn't mean that it was NDI...
Garland and Wray and Biden deserve prompt impeachment and removal.
========
Q: are these three preserving their documents? or just not generating any!
Q: why are such documents safely repositoried in Media /archives/ via 'leaks' etc
“Michael K, seems wise for you and your daughter to stay way from discussing politics.”
“Oh, yes. I feel sorry for her but can do nothing about her delusions.”
I can only imagine what she thinks about your delusions. Is this the same daughter that’s hasn’t spoken to you for over a year, or is that another daughter?
at the very least he has to tell someone he has declassified a document
Does he have to say pretty please to? Does the someone he tell have a special furry magic hat he wears when receiving the declassification? Does he have to face the sun on an odd Tuesday for it to be valid? Do we get to vote for that person? Is it every 4 years or every year?
is no way to run a government
"The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America." US Constitution Article II, Section 1, First freaking sentence.
what if Trump had set himself up as Trump Media Inc. and published all as '2016-2021 papers"
If Prof. Philip Hamburger questions the constitutional authority of magistrate judges, appointed under Article 1, not 3, to issue search warrants, it is not a frivolous position. I am not that familiar with constitutional challenges to magistrate judges, but I have familiarity with challenges to bankruptcy judges, who are also established and appointed under Article 1 of the Constitution. In the past 40 years, following the major overhaul of bankruptcy law in 1979, there have been several momentous Supreme Court decisions upending Congressional provisions on the scope of bankruptcy judge authority. So no reason to think they would hesitate to do the same with magistrate judges. But I doubt such a Supreme court case will arise out of the MAL search warrant, and it is not a challenge Trump's lawyers have made.
As other great ones have stated previously...
"Inga's gotta find a way to charge Trump rent for living in her head."
"Lots of open space there, but it isn't worth a dime in real money."
Swetnik's gotta Swetnik.
Crossfire Hurricane people from FBI
Judge who saw no wrong in Jeffrey Epstein.
It's deja vu all over again.
Hillary allows all her work to be monitored by any foreign intel agency by sending classified material on unsecured lines to an unsecured server. And printing it out. But that's OK.
All the documents the from Obama years - 33 million documents - in old furniture store in a corn field. But the Archives people declared that safe for classified documents. So that's OK.
Trump has fifteen boxes but the Archives said that was unsafe and requested an FBI raid.
It's deja vu all over again.
An election is coming. Redacted. Trust the FBI.
It's deja vu all over again.
Narayanan said...
what if Trump had set himself up as Trump Media Inc. and published all as '2016-2021 papers"
8/26/22, 8:00 PM
What if Obama publishes his 30,000 pages that are classified and sitting in a Chicago warehouse??
What I find now very interesting is that the left see the fact that just any kind of official document exists is vindication of their standpoint; that the truth of the matter is of no consequence only that the authority has made a statement of condemnation. The left are the authoritarians, and we know where that leads. They see no problem with that.
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