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All what you said is not settled law. And while one lawyer gives that interpretation, another lawyer will say Trump as the head of the executive branch can declassify and keep any document on a whim.
Since there is the constitution and a bunch of conflicting Acts, it really will take the USSC to determine if Trump broke the law, nevermind the doofus Garland.
But none of this is why Trump is being hounded! And really none of this is why you care either. He pissed off some people so they’re brainstorming for ways to get him and you’re cheering them on.
Meanwhile I’m here to point out what’s really going on.
What part of it is not settled law? the Presidential Records Act prescribes how the documents are to be handled. Nowhere in it does it make an exception for an ex-president to take any of the documentation of his administration home to keep. All of the documents are cataloged and maintained for the public by NARA. It was illegal on someone's part for the documents to be in Florida.
It is not a secret that Trump was relieved of his security clearance and daily briefings to him stopped in March, 2021. Even is the documents had been in Florida legally, he couldn't legally handle them without a security clearance. There is no dispute on what having a security clearance means.
As to declassification, that has been worn out here as a subject. If the documents did not go through the process of being remarked and re-cataloged after Trump allegedly "declassified" them, they are still considered to be at the same level of classification that they are currently marked.
Trump is not being "hounded" for any other reason than he refused to comply with a subpoena for the missing documents, and may have opened himself to an additional charge of Obstruction of Justice by holding back the 27 boxes that were confiscated during execution of the warrant. The warrant was legally obtained properly following all procedures and protocol for such, and sufficient evidence to show probably cause of violations of the Espionage Act of 1917 was shown to the judge to get his signature.
They also can't take non classified Presidential Records home when they leave office.
Sure, but that only concerns official records, not duplicate copies. The Presidential Records Act was written in a time before the internet and mass electronic indexing/scanning/etc. The mere fact that someone covered by the act has tangible property in their possession is not inherently a smoking gun.
So, people saying that "documents" were found tells me little.
In any event, there is a process for retrieving documents held contrary to the PRA and it doesn't involve the FBI raiding a presidential office; the act actually lacks an enforcement mechanism: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-look-...ntial-records/. That's not to say that presidents are still not bound to abide by the law, but I write this to focus on appropriate response to potential violations of the act as inappropriate responses call into question their legal basis and appropriateness.
What part of it is not settled law? the Presidential Records Act prescribes how the documents are to be handled. Nowhere in it does it make an exception for an ex-president to take any of the documentation of his administration home to keep. All of the documents are cataloged and maintained for the public by NARA. It was illegal on someone's part for the documents to be in Florida.
It is not a secret that Trump was relieved of his security clearance and daily briefings to him stopped in March, 2021. Even is the documents had been in Florida legally, he couldn't legally handle them without a security clearance. There is no dispute on what having a security clearance means.
As to declassification, that has been worn out here as a subject. If the documents did not go through the process of being remarked and re-cataloged after Trump allegedly "declassified" them, they are still considered to be at the same level of classification that they are currently marked.
Trump is not being "hounded" for any other reason than he refused to comply with a subpoena for the missing documents, and may have opened himself to an additional charge of Obstruction of Justice by holding back the 27 boxes that were confiscated during execution of the warrant. The warrant was legally obtained properly following all procedures and protocol for such, and sufficient evidence to show probably cause of violations of the Espionage Act of 1917 was shown to the judge to get his signature.
Please explain "settled law."
Very simply. All the acts you mentioned (and applying a set interpretation to) are passed by the legislative branch, limiting the power of the president. Furthermore, classified docs from the various departments (DOE as an example) are all part of the executive branch, of which the Constitution makes the president the head.
So it’s not even clear, per the Constitution, the legislative branch can restrict the president in this way. Never been brought before the Supreme Court because never in the history of this country have we had a DOJ so petty they turned to mishandling of classified Docs by a former president as a way to finally get him.
What part of it is not settled law? the Presidential Records Act prescribes how the documents are to be handled. Nowhere in it does it make an exception for an ex-president to take any of the documentation of his administration home to keep. All of the documents are cataloged and maintained for the public by NARA. It was illegal on someone's part for the documents to be in Florida.
It is not a secret that Trump was relieved of his security clearance and daily briefings to him stopped in March, 2021. Even is the documents had been in Florida legally, he couldn't legally handle them without a security clearance. There is no dispute on what having a security clearance means.
As to declassification, that has been worn out here as a subject. If the documents did not go through the process of being remarked and re-cataloged after Trump allegedly "declassified" them, they are still considered to be at the same level of classification that they are currently marked.
Trump is not being "hounded" for any other reason than he refused to comply with a subpoena for the missing documents, and may have opened himself to an additional charge of Obstruction of Justice by holding back the 27 boxes that were confiscated during execution of the warrant. The warrant was legally obtained properly following all procedures and protocol for such, and sufficient evidence to show probably cause of violations of the Espionage Act of 1917 was shown to the judge to get his signature.
Please explain "settled law."
That's assuming that they were not declassified by Trump prior to his leaving office. You're writing with many assumptions that run counter to at least what Trump's office is stating. If the documents were declassified by Trump (and a president has wide discretion to declassify documents at will and not subject to any formal procedure as outlined here: https://www.politifact.com/factcheck...y-anything-an/), then what you write does not apply.
Also, as I wrote in my immediately preceding post, the point about the Presidential Records Act only applies to official records as opposed to duplicate copies, etc. The PRA was written in a very different age where the internet and electronic indexing, scanning, and storage (and the mass duplication of such files) were not a thing or otherwise not common.
Responding to attacks by White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, Rep. Adam Schiff on Sunday insisted his criticism of the Trump administration was not wrong, saying there was “ample evidence of collusion in plain sight.”
Very simply. All the acts you mentioned (and applying a set interpretation to) are passed by the legislative branch, limiting the power of the president. Furthermore, classified docs from the various departments (DOE as an example) are all part of the executive branch, of which the Constitution makes the president the head.
So it’s not even clear, per the Constitution, the legislative branch can restrict the president in this way. Never been brought before the Supreme Court because never in the history of this country have we had a DOJ so petty they turned to mishandling of classified Docs by a former president as a way to finally get him.
That doesn't necessarily mean that the president has unilateral power to declassify RD documents. I've read carefully through the 2018 updates to the Rules for Nuclear Classification and Declassification, and I've found nothing that specifically grants that power to the sitting president by virtue of his position alone, so I don't think we can assume as much. The link is in my previous post if you'd like to take a look yourself.
They started talking about impeachment prior to trump ever being elected....
Their first effort (even the Dems try to forget this silly one) failed in a House vote, the next two silly ones failed in Senate votes.
Surely the Dems see their own pathology/obsession.
And that’s beyond various TDS hoaxes (Russia Collusion, Stormy Daniels, etc.)
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