BRINGING IN:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/4123088/posts?page=106#106
IMO, the issue is simply stated. Does Donald Trump or Joe Biden have the right to hold classified secret and confidential documents?
The answer seems straight forward; FIRST: V.P. Joe Biden has NO authority to be holding secret documents outside a SCIF or other approved facility AT ALL! To say that he was working with the documents at the Penn Center is an admission of guilt! Certainly to have those documents at his house is totally an admission of guilt.
How does this apply to Donald Trump? Trump is charged with possessing classified documents and in an unsecured facility. The primary issue is whether his claim of having declassified the documents is valid. If the documents are declassified then he has not violated the espionage law. That issue may well have to be decided in court; if there are no laws limiting the president’s ability to declassify then the issue is mute. Congress may wish to more clearly define the issue.
This argument does not apply to Joe Biden. The Vice President has NO AUTHORITY to declassify documents. Many military service people and other government employees are in prison for doing less than Joe Biden has done. To say that he has immediately complied and cooperated is a distraction, probably an attempt to shift blame to President Trump’s case in the sense of ‘obstructing justice’ by not fully cooperating - ostensibly.
Yes, the two cases are not similar; not similar because Donald Trump has a defense under law. Joe Biden has no defense! He had NO RIGHT to be in possession of those documents!
:: He had NO RIGHT to be in possession of those documents! ::
I suggest a correction:
He had >> no legal authority << to be in possession of those documents!
- h/t Al Gore
Tnx, bitt!