As much as I hate to say this, the ONLY way this stops is IF Trump wins and does go after Biden.whiterock said:Why should they not.FLBear5630 said:True, but that doesn't change the Trump situation. I am sure if Trump wins, Biden and company will have the full weight of DOJ investigating them...Wangchung said:It's a crime for a senator and vice president, too, no matter how quickly he gives them back.Porteroso said:Wangchung said:We both know that's not true. The alleged crime was possession, not failing to return borrowed documents, right?Frank Galvin said:Trump wouldn't have been prosecuted either if he just gave the documents back.Wangchung said:Too bad Trump isn't too old and feeble minded to be prosecuted so that "the possession is the crime" wouldn't apply...Frank Galvin said:The criminal act is possessing classified documents. That occured after Trump was president-there is no immunity issue there.FLBear5630 said:If he did, you are correct. The question becomes how does he declassify? Just thinking it is declassified, no document management? I could even go as far IF he had a written policy that anytime he takes it to the residence it is declassified, at least there is some type of thought and control. But, after the fact in Mar Lago bathroom? Not so much.RD2WINAGNBEAR86 said:So you don't consider a President declassifying documents an official act? If not, why not? Seems pretty clear to me.Mitch Blood Green said:RD2WINAGNBEAR86 said:Have you been taking speech lessons from Kamala? That was one fine word salad. A little Bleu Cheese please!Mitch Blood Green said:
I'm not sure this ruling says anything.
President has immunity for official acts. (Assumed)
No immunity for unofficial acts (also assumed)
Now we argue what is and didn't official and unofficial.
I assume college grads can read and comprehend.
One of the defenses is that the documents were declassified while he was President. I agree with your take on the fact that he clearly did not declassify them while President, but that is an issue based on the classification statutes. Immunity should have nothing to do with the Florida case.
Possession for a brief second is a crime for the rest of us, so you are correct. Obviously any President would be given grace and time to return documents, but also obviously there has to be a limit. Subjective, yes totally.
How do we prevent this from happening again if there are no perp walks?
It's not like we're going to have to contrive law to find law breaking, either. These guys are waaaay out beyond the pale.
Deterrence.
Public officials should have an ever-present fear of consequences of violations of law or procedure.
I did. I knew my career was over if I got arrested and sent home PNG. I also knew my career would be over if something I did ended up on the front page of the WAPO, or caused a Division Chief to get an ass-chewing from a Congressional committee. Man, I walked the line. I mean, I didn't put a shadow on the line.
And then we watch this fudge show going on with all the Trump prosecutions....Russiagate. It's incredible how far gone the system is.
So far, the Dems have had their way with no repercussions. The GOP has not followed through. Trump let Hillary walk. He fired Comey, but never went after for wrong doing. MAD only works if the other side will pull the trigger. Checks and Balances is similar, if the GOP doesn't hit the Dems, Dems will keep going.
Sorry, he has to bring charges at least to Grand Jury or Special Counsel