Declassifying Documents

Trump and a LARGE number of Republicans in our government (AKA the Radical Right Republicans; AKA the Trump-Chumps; AKA the Coup-Coup Bunch) have said that we did NOT have to worry about the government documents at Mar-a-Lago, because those documents were NOT classified; and they were not classified because Trump declassified them; and thus the FBI’s action to remove those documents from Mar-a-Lago was NOT necessary.

● Here’s what the Trump-Chumps don’t tell you (maybe because they don’t want you to know, or maybe because THEY don’t know):

1 - A classified document may contain “potentially harmful” information. That is, it may contain formation that could harm our nation, if it was seen by the wrong people. That is: if it was seen by the wrong people, that information could compromise our methods for gathering intelligence; and/or it could cause our allies to become reluctant to share intelligence with us; and/or it could get our people killed; and/or it could get our friends killed; and/or it could put our national security at risk; and/or it could cause other things to happen that would harm our nation.

2 - When Trump declassified a document containing “potentially harmful” information, the resulting “Trump declassified” document contained the SAME “potentially harmful” information that was in the document before he declassified it. Bottom line: A “Trump declassified” document could contain information that could harm our nation, if it was seen by the wrong people. OBVIOUSLY, there is a problem with “Trump declassified” documents. And OBVIOUSLY, it is a MAJOR problem.

This problem exists because a “Trump declassified” document is NOT a “properly declassified” document. That is, when Trump declassified a document, he did NOT follow the proper procedure for doing so. Bottom line: Trump was haphazard and sloppy when he declassified documents. (It’s as if he thought that he could magically declassify documents because he was “president”.)

The following is the proper procedure to declassify a document: > Our intelligence people should review the document to see if it contains “potentially harmful” information. > If the document contains “potentially harmful” information, ALL of that information should be redacted. > All classification markings should be removed from the document. > The aforementioned process should be officially documented. > At that point, the document can be deemed as properly declassified.

It should be no surprise to anyone that Trump did NOT follow the proper procedure for declassifying documents. As we ALL know, he doesn’t like to follow rules. That is, he prefers to ignore rules, just like he prefers to ignore our laws and our Constitution. (When he was in office, he was a self-proclaimed “law-and-order president”. But he was ACTUALLY a “lawless-law-and-order president”. And now, he is a “lawless-law-and-order ex-president.)

● Classified documents:

> As for classified documents and Obama: Trump said that Obama did the same thing as he did. Here’s reality: Obama did NOT store his classified documents in his house. (He’s not a moron!) Obama’s classified documents are being properly and legally stored in NARA facilities.

> As for classified documents and Hillary: The Trump-Chumps like to trash Hillary and claim that she had classified documents on her private email server. Here’s reality: The FBI found that Hillary did NOT knowingly have classified documents on her email server, because the documents sent to her did not have classification markings on them; and the FBI cleared her of any wrongdoing. (During his first run for President, Trump went berserk over Hillary’s email server. And he encouraged his supporters to chant “lock her up”.)

> As for classified documents and Trump:
* Trump took a LARGE NUMBER of classified documents to Mar-a-Lago which is NOT a secure location for those documents. Thus, he put our national security at risk.
* When the government repeatedly asked him to return the classified documents, Trump gave the government the runaround. Finally, after he did that for well over a year, the DOJ took legal action to get the FBI involved.
* Hillary NEVER took classified documents to her home. (She’s not a moron!)
* Bottom line: Trump did FAR WORSE than Hillary. Trump’s actions put our national security at risk, but Hillary’s actions did NOT. (Question: Why aren’t Trump’s supporters chanting “lock him up“? Maybe it’s because they have a double standard. Or maybe it’s because they only believe what Trump tells them to believe.)
▪
And what did Trump do with the classified documents while they were at Mar-a-Lago? That is: > Did he alter them? > Did he show them to his family, his friends, his employees, and his hotel patrons, while he was bragging about himself? > Did he show them to people (foreign or domestic) to get them to like him? (For example: Did he show them to his hero, Putin (a mass murderer), in order to get Putin to like him?) > Did he sell them to people (foreign or domestic) for his personal gain? (For example: A Trump hotel in Moscow?) > Did he copy them; and if so, where are the copies? > Did he hide some of them in other locations, and they are still at Mar-a-Lago? > Did he hide some of them outside of Mar-a-Lago? > Did he plan to use them to blackmail our government and/or US allies? > Was he going to use them in a way that would have been a betrayal to our nation? (One prominent veteran’s group refers to him as “traitor Trump”.)
▪
Hopefully, the planned “damage assessment” will definitively answer those questions. (It should be noted by all Trump-Chumps that NO damage assessment was warranted for Hillary’s email server.)

> When I was in the military, I worked with classified documents. If I had taken one of those documents to my dorm room, I would have been punished. Apparently, the Radical Right Republicans have a double standard on this issue; one standard for Trump, and another standard for everyone else. That is: “defend Trump and attack those who did nothing wrong” for you-know-who; and “punishment” for the rest of us.

● In conclusion: In addition to falsely claiming that the FBI’s action was unnecessary, Trump and his Chumps are also falsely claiming that the action was illegal and political. They are ignoring the fact that Trump did NOT properly declassify the documents, and thus it was illegal for him to store them at Mar-a-Lago. And they are ignoring the fact that Trump was repeatedly asked to return the documents to their rightful owners for well over a year. Furthermore, Trump and his Chumps are attacking the FBI, in an effort to put the lives of FBI agents at risk. Trump and his Chumps are frauds, they are irresponsible, and they are dangerous. (Does the word “lowlifes” come to mind?)

 

1) Thank you for your service
2) Its surprising you support the party that always wants to weaken the military with budget cuts and hate the guy that actually wanted to increase their budget (strange, but hey, to each their own right?)
3) this comes down to ONE thing. Did Trump "NOT Properly declassify the documents"? what does that mean "NOT Properly"? Did he do something wrong? if so then this should be cut and dry and simple

 

Good post! Bottom line, it makes no difference if the documents were declassified or not. The question is if Trump's actions put the life of others in jeopardy, compromised operations overseas and put our national security at risk.

The documents are still secret, but it's pretty obvious that's what he did.

Most of the laws that Trump likely violated refer to "records", regardless of whether they were classified or not. Of course, it's probably worse if they were. But there should be enough here to put him away for a while.

 

I love how lefties share the same fantasies. Good stuff! Please keep entertaining us

 

1) you're welcome

2) more radical right fantasies; but hey, to each their own

3) in my essay, I explained the PROPER procedure for declassifying a document; Trump did NOT follow the proper procedure; so, it's cut and dry and simple ... Trump did NOT Properly declassify the documents

 

Clearly insider information, welcome, and welcome back, remembering an ELEVEN YEAR OLD password is in and of itself impressive!

 

The documents were declassified by Trump... the corrupt FBI covered up again their corruption... Trump ordered the Russiagate documents release, but the FBI reneged.

His memorandum

https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.go...lated-fbis-crossfire-hurricane-investigation/
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-202100044/pdf/DCPD-202100044.pdf

 

The president and vice president are the ultimate declassifying authority of the U.S. government and through executive orders most recently issued in 2003 by George W. Bush and Barack Obama in 2009 that specifically exempt the president and vice president from having to follow the stringent declassification procedures every other federal agency and official must follow.

Judge Amy Jackson ruled in 2012 that a president's discretion to declare records "personal" is far-reaching and mostly unchallengeable.

Thanks to Bill Clinton's sock drawer.... this has been decided already.

https://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-co.../JW-v-NARA-Clinton-Tapes-transcript-01834.pdf
https://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/JW-v-NARA-Clinton-Tapes-opinion-01834.pdf

 

Good OP and assertions, it's time people are held to the same standards as any average American especially demagoguing "politicians" willing to tear down the country for personal and political gain along with some f'ed up power grab stemming from irrational fear mongering.

 

Good OP. Well thought out and erudite. I could probably do something similar describing how wrong it is that the sun rises in the east. Like it shouldn't come up at this or that particular latitude; How the time it rises is wrong; why it is wrong to rise in the east when the west would be the proper direction; etc.

 

Perhaps you could explain how this helps Trump's argument. You have shown that a memorandum was required to declassify documents related to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. So where is the memorandum for declassifying the documents seized in this latest event?

 

That is those documents… prove me wrong.

 

It ain't rocket science. If the president declassifies a document he naturally has to inform the owner of the document. If the owner is the FBI he has to tell the FBI. If he is the owner he has to tell himself; he might or might not give a FYI memo.

 

I read that presidents are not actually read into classified programs so they aren't held to the same non-disclosure agreements as everyone else. Not only that but ex-presidents continue to receive classified briefings even after they leave office.

It's been a while since I read this so I can't provide a link.

And Hillary Clinton? She was printing out classified documents and having the non-cleared cleaning lady read them to her out loud.

 

Dur! Because the files seized recently were stated as classified as stated by Trump's lawyers . Hence not related to Crossfire Hurricane

 

I ended this argument more succinctly:

http://www.politicalforum.com/index...-declassified-the-docs-false-argument.603387/

Though it isn't necessary, I would first like to debunk Trump's 'classification authority' regarding national defense information.

Executive Order 12958
(d) Original classification authorities [which includes the incumbent President] must receive training in original classification as provided in this order and its implementing directives. Such training must include instruction on the proper safeguarding of classified information and of the criminal, civil, and administrative sanctions that may be brought against an individual who fails to protect classified information from unauthorized disclosure.


Trump doesn't even read his daily intel briefs because he hates to read. I sincerely doubt he was trained on 'national defense information' sufficient to qualify himself to declassify or classify. Clearly the docs were classified by the issuing authority, and not Trump. The very fact that he had TS/SCI docs in his '45 office' desk proves he violated the protocols which proves didn't study any training manual and is therefore unqualified to declassify NDI docs.

But, it doesn't matter, 793, mishandling of national defense information documents of the Espionage Act does not depend on any classification regime.

What that means is that even if he were the original person to classify the documents, if damage assessments prove they shouldn't have been declassified, given 793, it won't matter if he did declassify them because, severe damage assessments will prove (if that is the case) that he didn't coordinate nor memorialize the declassification with the national defense information authorities per protocols ( which means they would have been restamped, and the photos show that they were not) and he would be therefore in be violation of 793. also, this protocol reveals the absurdity of the 'standing declassification order' he allegedly did, which no intel staff or nat security staff has confirmed, all of them ( some 18, all told) have denied that this was done by Trump.

 

False equivalency.

She didn't remove TS/SCI docs from SCIFs, the basis for the Espionage violation, and those emails were only marked with (c), and of the 30,000 emails, only 3 were so marked. that's not sufficient to warrant an indictment.

 

Redstone gave a very good explanation of what "properly declassifying" entails. He, tRaitor tRump, at the VERY least did "something" wrong. But, because tRaitor tRump has a nation wide mob chomping at the bit to start a National Insurrection, this time, it may very well be cut and dried, but strict procedure must be followed if there is any hope of avoiding a national catastrophe.

 

Ben Rhodes was an national security adviser to Obama. He noted in a recent interview regarding the Trump controversy over classified docs that, naturally, he lost his security clearance the moment Obama's presidency ended. He was later called upon to testify for Don's first impeachment hearing. In doing prep work for those hearings he had to get a temporary security clearance to read documents he had legally read while employed as a NSA. Meaning anyone who had access to the classified docs stored at MaL would have needed a security clearance to view them legally.

Secondly, he pointed out there was no national interest being served by Trump's illegal possession of classified docs. None. Trump's interests may have been served in any number of nefarious ways.......but not the country's.

This article..........
Trump Attorney, Former OAN Host Christina Bobb In Spotlight Over Mar-a-Lago Trouble
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/trump-attorney-oan-christina-bobb-custodian-mar-a-lago-raid

..........indicates that Trump attorney Evan Corcoran viewed stored documents in an attempt to find ones that were classified. Meaning she/he? did so illegally unless she/he had received a temporary security clearance. All of which is another indication of the careless way Trump treated national security secrets.

 

I don't give a damn about your service.

Furthermore, the President doesn't have to "follow the proper procedure". He is the procedure. He can blurt out "I've declassified these documents" and it doesn't make one damn bit of difference if the docs are nuke launch codes, he's got the authority. End. Period. Done.

Next you'll be telling us how the Commander in Chief didn't follow orders correctly.

 

" Trump and his chumps" ....... Space Bidets laugh ..

 

Nope... this is all about those documents because it was meant to uncover the corrupt FBI... and the FBI did not let us down when it comes to showing how corrupt they can be.

 

Did you come up with ELEVEN by yourself? If you did, that’s even MORE impressive than what I did.

ACTUALLY, the best show in town is watching radical right MAGA-Republicans squirm when Trump chastises them for not thinking what he tells them to think. (As we ALL know, Trump requires them to “live” in an alternative reality that he’s created for them. And MOST of them are doing EXACTLY that.)

You talk about “flopping”. What about “flip-flopping”? First they hated Trump; then they flip-flopped; and now they are his minions, who bow down and worship him, and who are willing to blindly follow him anywhere.

 

We don't know if any of the classified documents had to do with operation crossfire. It could be another classified operation, such as Operation Kayla Mueller, or another operation the public does not know about. No evidence to suggest one way or the other.

 

If a classified document contains “potentially harmful” information, all of that information must be redacted in order to properly declassify the document (“potentially harmful” information is information that could jeopardize our national security, and/or get our people killed, if seen by the wrong people).

There is NO evidence that any redaction occurred when Trump declassified a document. In fact, a comment that I’ve OFTEN heard on the news goes like this: There is a process for declassifying documents, and Trump is ignoring that process.

Bottom line: A Trump-declassified document could jeopardize our national security, and/or get our people killed, if seen by the wrong people.

I’m sure that those executive orders from Bush and Obama for less stringent declassification procedures for the president and vice president did NOT mean irresponsible declassification procedures (and it would be irresponsible NOT to redact all “potentially harmful” information). I’m sure that Bush and Obama were concerned about protecting our national security, and protecting the lives of our people. Maybe Trump isn’t concerned about those issues. Or maybe he doesn’t understand the connection between those issues and the lack of proper redaction (you’d think that his “very good brain” will allow him to see that).

I agree that the president and vice president are the ultimate declassifying authority. However, even they must insure that all “potentially harmful” information in a classified document is redacted. And I’m sure that they ALL understood that … except for Trump.

Trump’s “process” to declassify documents might work in the magic world of Reality TV, but NOT in the real world. (When he was president, it often seemed like he was acting in a reality TV show: The Apprentice President. Maybe he thought he could magically declassify documents.)