Posted on 06/08/2023 5:44:40 PM PDT by tarpit
Trump added to the confusion when he said in an interview with Fox personality Sean Hannity, “There doesn’t have to be a process, as I understand it. ... If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified. Even by thinking about it.”
Most national security legal experts dismissed the former president’s suggestion that he could declassify documents simply by thinking about it. But as an ABA Legal Fact Check posted Oct. 17 explains, legal guidelines support his contention that presidents have broad authority to formally declassify most documents that are not statutorily protected, while they are in office.
The system of classifying national security documents is largely a bureaucratic process used by the federal government to control how executive branch officials handle information, whose release could cause the country harm. The government has, however, prosecuted cases for both mistaken and deliberate mishandling of information. Under the U.S. Constitution, the president as commander in chief is given broad powers to classify and declassify such information, often through use of executive orders.
Some secrets, such as information related to nuclear weapons, are handled separately under a specific statutory scheme that Congress has adopted under the Atomic Energy Act. Those secrets cannot be automatically declassified by the president alone and require, by law, extensive consultation with executive branch agencies.
In all cases, however, a formal procedure is required so governmental agencies know with certainty what has been declassified and decisions memorialized. A federal appeals court in a 2020 Freedom of Information Act case, New York Times v. CIA, underscored that point: “Declassification cannot occur unless designated officials follow specified procedures,” the court said.
As the new ABA Legal Fact Check notes, the extent of a president’s legal authority to unilaterally declassify materials — without following formal procedures — has yet to be challenged in court.
The deep state is showing its desperation. Bigly.
One question: to which higher authority in the Executive Branch does President Trump request permission to declassify documents?
The wet work gangs at the DOJ will fuel some kook to take Trump out. Then take out the kook. Bank on it.
Bill Clinton’s sock drawer is giggling.
Please point to the written procedure the President must follow. I haven't seen it.
Actually, the Clinton sock drawer cas has already established it.
The President decides what’s classified, not some professional affirmative action administrative state bureaucratic parasite.
Only mentally ill pervert supremacists would believe otherwise.
Exactly. Notifying others as part of declasifying doesn’t mean he cannot declassify something if processes weren’t 100% followed. Its not asking permission, its notifying.
“ Some secrets, such as information related to nuclear weapons, are handled separately under a specific statutory scheme that Congress has adopted under the Atomic Energy Act. Those secrets cannot be automatically declassified by the president alone and require, by law, extensive consultation with executive branch agencies.”
This bears repeating.
Everyone should calm down a bit until we see what is in the indictment.
Both have spoken to the issue. They think the any charge based on classified documents is absurd. The chief executive is exactly that. He doesn’t report to anyone higher in the Executive. Process for low level functionaries do not apply, but of course the eff’n pathetic lives of every eff’n POS government employee is built on process, not competence.
It’s a revenge indictment on behalf of Hillary Clinton:
CALL TO ACTIVISM
@CalltoActivism
🚨🚨🚨MAJOR BREAKING: Donald Trump is facing five years in prison and a felony because of a law HE SIGNED in attempt to punish Hillary Clinton in 2018.
The law HE SIGNED upgrades the crime of wrongly moving classified material from a misdemeanor to a felony.
Trump signed the bill after spending the 2016 presidential campaign accusing Hillary Clinton of improperly handling classified information.
“Trump certainly has legal exposure to Section 1924 given it was classified documents from his spaces in the White House that were removed to Mar-Lago,” said attorney Bradley P. Moss.
This evening, Trump posted on Truth Social that he would be indicted.
Trump said he must report to a Miami courthouse this Tuesday.
6:45 PM · Jun 8, 2023
Policy…procedure…blah…blah…blah…. Bureaucratic policies and procedures can’t trump a President’s constitutional authority. We’ve created such an extra-constitutional administrative state that the bureaucrats and government lawyers actually believe that the Constitution is subordinate to their dictates.
Hillary wasn’t President, a big difference.
I believe the argument can also be made that as chief executive, Trump can make one-time or permanent changes to processes not detailed by law. Rarely does Congress say these are the steps to be taken. They say, such and such entity will fill in the details.
He could make an executive order making those exact changes you mention.
Former Asst. Attorney for DOJ under Trump named CClark said tonight that he was contacted, coincidentally today by, I think prosecutors, because they are attempting to take his DC BAR license. Disgusting.
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.