whiterock said:How, exactly, would you describe the accountability due to the people who abuse their official powers the way this admin is doing?Osodecentx said:I agree. What do you think when Trump says he will get even with government officials, especially his former staff?GrowlTowel said:The simple fact of the matter is that a functioning government does not prosecute the opposition party for process crimes. Merely having the documents (which I believe is all that is alleged) as opposed to using them for criminal purposes (or even shady political purposes), is not a crime that should cast the US into banana republic style politics.Osodecentx said:whiterock said:Nope. Biden was not POTUS when he committed the security violation.Osodecentx said:But you said "A President CANNOT commit a security violation.".whiterock said:No. Biden was not POTUS when he took those files to his garage, so he did not have original authority at that time. Now, he could have, solely upon his own determination, declassified them after his inauguration. Whether he would have had to execute a document to do so, or simply tell an investigator "those are now declassified" when asked, is within the realm of the argument Trump is making. But that would not have had the ex post facto effect you allege.Osodecentx said:Then the files in Biden's garage (from Obama era) were ex post facto declassified when Joe "thought" about it after Jan 20, 2021?whiterock said:A President CANNOT commit a security violation.FLBear5630 said:Yeah, it was I can do it. If I think about it on the way to the toilet it is declassified, to "as I understand it". You don't see a backing off the position in that????whiterock said:
Concept: the originating authority cannot be encumbered. To do so subordinates that authority to another,
Originating authority cannot be encumbered, but the originating authority has to identify what is being declassified before it is declassified.
he can do so by simply revealing it, verbally or manually, without any prior action required. All Presidents have done so, frequently.
It can't be after the fact and the subordinates have to know what is being declassified. Without ANY documentation there is no way to prove it. He is screwed. Unless, there is document control. With your extensive knowledge of how this works, you are aware of document control? Try this to refresh your memory.
I had to worry about document control.....the officers under my command had to worry about document control....the officers above me had to worry about document control......because all of us had derivative authority to originate, possess, and use classified information derivative of POTUS, who has no such encumberance. No one else has the power to look at POTUS and say "oh, sir, you cannot do that!" because to do so would subordinate originating authority.
DoDM 5200.01 Vol 1, "DoD Information Security Program: Overview, Classification, and Declassification," February 24, 2012, Incorporating Change 2 on July 28, 2020 (whs.mil)
There are set requirements for how this happens. Trump just deciding to go to the Residence and thinking this is declassified is not part of this process. As I said, if there is no paper trail, which I believe there is not due to where we are, he is going to be found guilty. What that entails, who knows. But, to say he can't be encumbered is an oversimplification. For example,
No. There is no requirement that POTUS must fill out any forms, for either prior approval or to subsequently perfect an act. he/she may dispose at discretion. ALL procedures for classification, use, declassification flow from POTUS originating authority. Any deviations from protocols are presumed to be changes in protocols. Has always been so.
- there are Presidential Memorandum dictating how this all occurs, did he rescind them before he determined what was declassified?
See above. Doesn't matter. Deviations from his instructed procedures are always presumed to be changes in procedure.- The documents generated in his 4 years may be found to be that he has the right to just declass. But anything originating from other Presidents he did not.
Nope. He may declassify or classify anything, regardless of what a predecessor or successor chose to do. Obama classifying something does not limit Trump's declassification of it. Similarly, Biden's classification of something Trump declassified is also binding. (and in fact, that was done in this particular case.....)- Was anything he declassified determined by NARA and the current administration to make the securing the US more difficult? That is not his call, but NARA and the current administration.
NARA cannot determine anything without superseding POTUS originating authority! They cannot say "you did not perfect your declassification" for reasons outlined above.
You worked in MI in the military. I worked 3 years in JAG, it is not as open shut as you would like to believe.
The weakness in your analysis is, at every turn, an implicit assumption that a President has no more latitude than a Sergeant, Lieutenant, General, etc....that a POTUS must obey "the rules." Problem is, POTUS.....IS the rules. His/her actions require no prior approvals or process. They may act on discretion, and those actions are both dispositive and indicative.
Ridiculous
Are Trump's lawyers even asserting the "mere thinking = declassification" defense?
Now you are adding another requirement other than "I thought it, therefore it is."
I'm arguing that it takes more than mere thought, actually a claim with nothing more, to declassify retroactively. So I think Biden's are a violation
You're claiming that classified records kept at Mar. Lago can't be a violation because of a previously undisclosed "thought ".
The records Biden had in the garage from the Obama era could have been declassified by mere thought when Biden became POTUS , a ludicrous claim but that is your defense of Trump
It takes more than mere thought & nothing else.
Trump wants to get even with people HE appointed during his presidency because they told the truth