(08-13-2022, 07:05 AM)flsprtsgod Wrote:

(08-13-2022, 06:20 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: If what you say is true, then it would be impossible to ever prosecute a former President for taking classified documents out of the White House, because he could just claim he declassified them.  This would give any former President the power to freely publish any of our national secrets.  Think that through.  Joe Biden loses the next election and decides to declassify the plans to all our latest weapons systems and send them to the Chinese.  According to you, he could do that with impunity.  

There is a process that is normally followed.  

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-classified-records/

Trump's defenders claim these documents were declassified, but they just failed to mark them "declassified" which is part of the normal procedure.  I would be interested to see what is in these documents.  That shouldn't be a problem, since they have supposedly been declassified, right?  It would also be interesting to see what evidence he has that he did declassify them, and why he thought it was okay to declassify them.  One of them was marked at the highest level of classification.  I wonder what was in that one, and why Trump thought it was okay to declassify it and take it to Mar-A-Lago.

He doesn't have to claim anything, the President can and does declassify by action alone. There's no ceremony, no incantation, no journal entry...nothing. The Executive has that right and authority and Biden should be fighting this not instigating it.

But does he have to provide evidence that he actually did it, other than just claiming he did it?  Because if he can just claim he did it, then he can take any classified document, without telling anyone.  Is that okay with you?  What if it was a list of all our spies in China?  Should he be able to take that with him when he leaves office, and store it in a box at home, never having told anyone he was going to do that?  

Shouldn't he follow the normal procedure, which involves bringing in the heads of the agencies affected and going through a logical process, including discussion, and marking the document "declassified?"  Apparently he didn't do any of that.  He just decided to take stuff home, including at least one document of the highest classification level.   

What if he said, "Gee, this is a really cool weapon system.  I think I'll that this one with me."  Is that okay with you?  Just take any classified document and if he's found out, claim he declassified them?

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