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Trump raid not about classified documents — it’s about Jan. 6
nypost ^ | 8/9/2022 | andrew c. mccarthy

Posted on 08/09/2022 8:21:08 AM PDT by bitt

The court-authorized search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is another unmistakable signal that the Justice Department is trying to build a criminal case against him arising out of the Capitol riot.

Ostensibly, the search relates to a long simmering dispute between the former president and the government over Trump’s potentially illegal retention and mishandling of classified information. But don’t be deceived.

National Archives officials alerted the Justice Department months ago regarding missing records and possible classified information violations. That owes to the chaotic atmosphere in which the Trump family decamped to Florida from the White House following the Capitol riot – with impeachment proceedings and even talk of removing Trump from office under the 25th Amendment then underway.

Reportedly, about 15 boxes of records were removed from the White House and shipped to Mar-a-Lago. The National Archives subsequently explained that much of the material should have been kept in the government’s possession, pursuant to the Presidential Records Act. After extensive negotiations, Trump agreed to return some of the materials in January 2022. Upon receipt, National Archives officials advised the Justice Department that the returned materials included classified information.

If true, that raises several issues. If Trump had not declassified these materials while he was president, then his continuing possession of them in a non-secure location was probably illegal. While presidents have unilateral authority to declassify intelligence, they only maintain that authority while in office – it may not be exercised in the post-presidency. The returned documents were thus potentially evidence of crimes. In addition, since it is believed Trump did not return everything that was shipped out of the White House in those hectic days of January 2021, there was significant reason to suspect he continued to retain classified information at Mar-a-Lago.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: andrewcmccarthy; andrewmcrino; andymccarthy; fakenews; jan6; maralagoraid; nationalreview; nevertrumpers
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To: bitt
If Trump had not declassified these materials while he was president, then his continuing possession of them in a non-secure location was probably illegal. While presidents have unilateral authority to declassify intelligence, they only maintain that authority while in office – it may not be exercised in the post-presidency.

A president's unilateral authority to declassify includes the president following any damn procedure he wants to declassify.

There is no paper trail of declassification that is required for the Classifier in Chief. If Trump says that he declassified a document while he was president then it's the end of story.

Andrew McCarthy's arguments are once agin underwhelming. It seems to happen a lot.

21 posted on 08/09/2022 8:48:07 AM PDT by FreeReign
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To: bitt
The FBI has created a decisive moment for America!

August 8 2022 "A date which will live in INFAMY!"

Once again the Department of Justice(sic) and the FBI are proving themselves to be so corrupt in the raiding of a former President's home when they have whitewashed every other crime going on!! It is so pathetic and they are proving that they themselves are what so many people have expected!

AND THE FBI HIDING THE CRIMINAL WORK OF THE BIDEN FAMILY PROVEN ON A LAPTOP THAT THEY HAVE HAD IN CUSTODY FOR 2 YEARS?????

The Biden administration is pointing their fingers at YOU America... are you happy?

ULTRA MAGA 2024 - PLEASE GOD!!

22 posted on 08/09/2022 8:49:30 AM PDT by high info voter (Delivery )
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To: noiseman
The markings mean nothing if Trump declassified the documents, and declassification is an administrative procedure. It’s not like there is some constitutional process that is binding upon the President. If Trump decided they were declassified, even if he did it 10 seconds before he left office, then they were declassified, end of story.

Exactly right.

23 posted on 08/09/2022 8:49:54 AM PDT by FreeReign
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To: al baby

Given who the judge was one cannot but wonder...


24 posted on 08/09/2022 8:51:42 AM PDT by ScaniaBoy (Part of the Right Wing Research & Attack Machine)
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To: Macoozie

You should read down to the actual analysis.

“The Justice Department well knows that the qualifications for a presidential candidate are set out in the Constitution. They may not be altered by statute, precisely because the Framers did not want the executive branch to be dominated by the legislature, as would happen if Congress could disqualify incumbent or potential presidents simply by passing a law. The Constitution’s qualifications for the presidency are minimal – one must be over 35 and a natural-born citizen. Being a felon is not a disqualification, so even crimes potentially far more serious than mishandling classified information are not a bar to seeking the presidency.

Moreover, the Constitution also prescribes the basis for disqualifying a person from seeking the presidency or other federal office: conviction by the Senate on an impeachment article voted by the House. Again, what is prescribed by the Constitution may not be altered by a mere statute. To trigger disqualification, Congress would have to impeach and convict Trump; it cannot be done by criminal prosecution.”

This means all of it is about optics and election talking points in order to hold the house and senate.

The flailing of a mortally wounded dinosaur.


25 posted on 08/09/2022 8:51:49 AM PDT by Valpal1 (Not even the police are safe from the police!!!)
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To: bitt

Mar-a-lago, it has been raided
And the stock market, it has been cratered
The U.S. dollar has been inflated
And the fires on the west coast, they’re conflagrated

But you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
How you don’t believe
We’re on the eve of destruction

The CIA listens to what you say
Whether in the mail or on eBay
You try to use cash, but there’s no way
To place an order on Amazon today

But you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
How you don’t believe
We’re on the eve of destruction

You’ve got shot four times for the Omicron variant
And your tax preparer is very compliant
What’s not out of stock, is redundant
And Siri is about to go sentient

But you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
How you don’t believe
We’re on the eve of destruction

The war in Ukraine, it just got started
The Yellowstone caldera it will be parted
Your whole supply chain has been Walmarted
And your commander in chief, he is retarded

But you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
How you don’t believe
We’re on the eve of destruction

The meteors in space, they thrill us
But one of days, one is gonna kill us
We won’t have enough food to fill us
But when it comes to paying, they’re sure to bill us

But you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
How you don’t believe
We’re on the eve of destruction

Your email account is full of spam
And the teachers at school, they’re all trans
Your solar battery ain’t worth a damn
And they say you’re a member of the Ku Klux Klan

But you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
How you don’t believe
We’re on the eve of destruction


26 posted on 08/09/2022 8:52:05 AM PDT by Redmen4ever
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To: bitt
Andrew McCarthy is the same career prosecutor sh!tbag who publicly opposed firing disgraced FBI agent Andrew McCabe and stripping him of his pension even after McCabe's wrongdoing was exposed.

Any media outlet that gives a voice to this @sshole should be run out of business.

27 posted on 08/09/2022 8:55:18 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("It's midnight in Manhattan. This is no time to get cute; it's a mad dog's promenade.")
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To: bitt

The legal ANALyst is leaving out a lot of facts.


28 posted on 08/09/2022 8:58:13 AM PDT by conservative98
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To: bitt

15 boxes of papers? They were in that tiny hotel room style safe?


29 posted on 08/09/2022 9:07:12 AM PDT by SaxxonWoods (The only way to secure your own future is to create it yourself.)
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To: bitt
"That owes to the chaotic atmosphere in which the Trump family decamped to Florida from the White House following the Capitol riot..."

Trumps fault. Thanks Andy.

30 posted on 08/09/2022 9:14:51 AM PDT by Psalm 73 ("You'll never hear surf music again" - J. Hendrix)
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To: bgill

“It’s about an outsider exposing their deep dark dirty secrets.”

That is basically it. President Trump is an outsider and not on the approved list to be President.


31 posted on 08/09/2022 9:21:52 AM PDT by Parley Baer
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To: bitt

The National Archives subsequently explained that much of the material should have been kept in the government’s possession, pursuant to the Presidential Records Act.

Isn’t he allowed to have copies of them even after he declassified them.


32 posted on 08/09/2022 9:36:13 AM PDT by Vaduz ( )
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To: bitt

He declassified them, all of them. But they weren’t all marked as such.

That’s it. That’s the whole issue.

*spit*


33 posted on 08/09/2022 9:38:06 AM PDT by Basket_of_Deplorables (Putin is behaving rationally.The war is on Biden and Obama. )
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To: noiseman

Agreed but this is the game that they’re playing


34 posted on 08/09/2022 9:48:33 AM PDT by dila813
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To: noiseman

It’s kind of like what is the meaning of gain of function?

Redefine the definition that’s the name of the game.


35 posted on 08/09/2022 9:49:23 AM PDT by dila813
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To: bitt

Covering their evil tracks.


36 posted on 08/09/2022 9:50:00 AM PDT by Jane Long (What we were told was a “conspiracy theory” in 2020 is now fact. 🙏🏻 Ps 33:12)
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To: bitt

Complete fishing expedition by the FBI, excuse me now known as the Gestapo, soon they’ll be donning Jack boots.


37 posted on 08/09/2022 10:09:04 AM PDT by kenmcg (t)
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To: rigelkentaurus
***Wait for this situation, wait for the evidence to be fabricated, wait for the indictment, wait for the pre-trial hearings, and then nail the government thugs in open court***

Sounds likely.

38 posted on 08/09/2022 10:33:14 AM PDT by Bob Ireland (The Democrap Party is the enemy of freedom.They use all the seductions and deceits of the Bolshevics)
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To: bitt

Must a florida judge issue a florida residential warrant? Probably not.
But why not?


39 posted on 08/09/2022 10:41:31 AM PDT by xzins (Retired US Army chaplain. Support our troops by praying for their victory. )
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To: caww

“anything they can find to use against him that will “prosecute and arrest him”.....thus he wouldn’t be able to run for office”

Except he’d still be able to run for the presidency even if they arrest him, and even if they somehow convicted him.


40 posted on 08/09/2022 10:55:01 AM PDT by Boogieman
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