Donald Trump indicted on 7 counts in classified documents probe

I know they exist. I don''t think they were classified. Apparently they were never federal property because they had nothing to do with his official duties and he made them himself. The documents TFG kept had were germane to his job, and were generated by federal employees. An important distinction.

 

Conway had Trump pegged as the sociopath he is years ago.

 

TFG was not POTUS at the time. As far as him saying nothing here leaves the room, TFG was the one disseminating it, showing off to his aides after his term was over. Haven't you paid any attention to this at all?

 

The NARA can and as we've seen does send it's findings to the DOJ.

 

Clinton's staff had nothing to do with the tapes
The historian Branch taped the conversations with Clinton.
When done he gave Clinton the tape(s) and while driving home recorded from memory what was said.
Branch didn't/doesn't have copies of the tapes.

 

NARA requested the DOJ look into the documents, but the DOJ had to get Joe Biden to sign off on it first so Joe went to the "special access request" to "request" the FBI look into it before the FBI could get involved, which directly resulted in the corrupt weaponized FBI raiding Biden's political opponent Trump's home.

Documents on request.

 

Clinton obviously had wide discretion, because no one knows what's on the tapes. But I'm quite certain he discussed secrets.

The person who did the taping was a subordinate of Clinton, yes?

 

The Archivist does not have authority over the POTUS. It's a ludicrous position.

 

You really have no clue what you are talking about do you?

Records can either be Presidential or Personal. The definition of what is a Presidential record is given in the PRA. A President cannot desginate a Presidential record as Personal. IF (again IF) the record in question does not meet the given criteria as a Presidential record then (and ONLY then) the President has the discretion to classify it as a Personal record and must take all efforts to file it seperately from Presidential Records

Presidential records can be classified or not classified. They can also fall under "Executive Privilege"

What falls under "Executive Privilege" is murky at best. There is no mention of "executive privilege" in the Constitution. The Supreme Court has ruled that the idea of executive privilege comes from the doctrine of separation of powers.


What Trump had at Mar-a-Lago was, under the PRA, PRESIDENTIAL records and as such were REQUIRED to be turned over to NARA at the end of his term.
Furthermore many of the documents were relating to the National Defense which puts them under The Espionage Act. Their classification does not matter, they only have to "relate to the National Defense"
Finally a subset of THOSE documents were also classified but none of the charges Trump has been indicted on rely on whether or not the documents were classified.

 

So how did he get the documents if he wasn't POTUS? The act in question here was committed while he was POTUS . He packed them and carried them out as POTUS.

 

No, the person who did the taping was Taylor Branch who is an author and a historian

 

No, the act in question happened AFTER he was President.

The records may have been created WHILE he was President...but the retention of the records happened AFTER he was President.

If he had just turned the records over when his term was done we would not be here.

Hell, if he had turned the records over when he was asked about a year AFTER he had left office we would not be here.
Hell, if he had turned the records over when they were subpoenaed in March we might not be here.

But no, he kept them. He tried to hide them. He lied about having them.

THAT'S why we are where we are today.

 

Those are not public documents. They are documents that are exclusively used for the performance of Executive duties, and Congress has as much authority to dictate to the POTUS as to how to handle them (including the act of carrying them out of the WH) as the POTUS has in dictating Senate committee rules.

 

No, they do not. Which is why they referred these issues to the DOJ.

 

Which is what makes them PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS and under the PRA the outgoing President is REQUIRED to turn those records over to the NARA at the end of his term.

You have to remember, however, that Trump is NOT being charged with violation of the PRA but he is being charged under the Espionage Act (section 793(e) specifically) which requires that the records in question be "related to the National Defense". Their classification or even their status as personal vs. presidential doesn't enter into it.

 

The act was carrying the documents home. Retention isn't an act. It's like saying yeah, you have a right to purchase a gun and carry it home, but you don't have the right to "retain" it.

Again, since you didn't answer the question: does the knowledge that your plans could be scrutinized by others in the future inhibit what you would say during the actual planning phase?

 

Except that the raid originated in a NARA action, correct? That's all we heard during the raid. PRA PRA PRA! What happened? They realized there were no penalties under that law?

 

So the AG, a subordinate of the POTUS, has the authority to override the POTUS 's discretion as to what is a personal document and what is not? Again, ludicrous.

 

NARA requested the DOJ look into the documents, but the DOJ had to get Joe Biden to sign off on it first so Joe went to the "special access request" to "request" the FBI look into it before the FBI could get involved, which directly resulted in the corrupt weaponized FBI raiding Biden's political opponent Trump's home.

 

Actually retention IS an act

*793(e)
Whoever having unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it; or

As to your second question, yes...which is where "executive privilege" comes into play. Some (SOME) Presidential Records can be held by the Executive Branch and not subject to subpoena BY CONGRESS the subpoena, in this case, came from the DOJ which is part of the Executive Branch. Executive privilege does not extend to subpoenas from the Executive Branch. Also the decision to designate something as being protected under Executive Privilege lies with the CURRENT Executive (aka President) not with the previous one AND such claims are subject to Judicial Review.

 

No, where did I say anything even approaching that?

 

And Taylor just volunteered? It doesn't matter who taped them. Did he tape conversations with world leaders or not? What matters is a judge ruled nobody gets to look at them.

 

Nope, the "raid" (actually the legal issuance of a warrant and the legal serving of said warrant) originated (as all such warrants do) in the DOJ. NARA may have turned over information that led the DOJ to such actions but NARA had no say in whether or not a warrant was issued.

If you complain to the police about a crack house in your neighborhood and give them sufficient reason then the police can go to a judge and get a warrant. YOU did not "originate" the warrant, you merely provided the information that led the police to "originate" the warrant.

 

What matters is that the judge ruled that NARA doesn't have the authority to declare them Presidential Records. Whether or not "someone gets to look at them" is up to Bill Clinton since the tapes belong to him

Don't forget that those tapes were the basis of a book by Taylor Branch that you can buy on Amazon if you want to know what was on the tapes.

 

Volunteered or was asked, I don't know...nor does it matter.