Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Fact check: Biden did have the authority to declassify documents as vice president
USA Today | January 18, 2023 | By Sudiksha Kochi

Posted on 01/18/2023 6:26:01 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-98 next last
To: TigerClaws

Notice the Snopes propaganda.
Biden had a “few” documents...Trump had “hundreds”.


21 posted on 01/18/2023 6:43:35 AM PST by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

The executive order is here:

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-classified-national-security-information

I scanned the document with a “find” instruction. I found that the document authorized Vice President Biden to classify documents, but did NOT authorize him to declassi9fy documents.

Even if you were to make an argument that classification power implies declassification power, the executive order goes out of its way to separate classification authority from declassification authority, and specifies exactly who may declassify documents. The Vice President is not included in the people who may declassify documents.


22 posted on 01/18/2023 6:44:29 AM PST by nagant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

This is meaningless. All this is saying is that Biden can ONLY declassify anything that HE ALONE classified.

Democrat press trying to muddy the waters yet again


23 posted on 01/18/2023 6:44:30 AM PST by VeniVidiVici (Vote Democrat and stay on the plantation!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

So, if they say Biden can declassify documents and there’s no record of it, and they insist, anyway, then President Trump can do same. Right?


24 posted on 01/18/2023 6:46:00 AM PST by xzins (Retired US Army chaplain. Support our troops by praying for their victory. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

They are left in the ridiculous position of arguing that the president as chief executive can not declassify anything, especially if his name is Trump, but a vice president can declassify everything.

The truth is, the vice president is (maybe) able to declassify documents that he classified in the first place.

Don’t be fooled, these people are all crazy, and lie as naturally as breathing.


25 posted on 01/18/2023 6:47:21 AM PST by Freedom4US
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: VeniVidiVici

I’d be curious to know what he classified, and why. Is it all Hunter/Ukraine/China stuff?


26 posted on 01/18/2023 6:47:57 AM PST by gundog (It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: xzins

You noticed that too.

Biden has the authority to turn the lights on and off. But leaves them on all night anyway.


27 posted on 01/18/2023 6:49:23 AM PST by Robert A Cook PE (Method, motive, and opportunity: No morals, shear madness and hatred by those who cheat.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer
Biden had the power to declassify anything he classified.

Ok. Was he the Original Classification Authority for these documents? Probably not.

Besides, carelessly handling documents is not the same as declassifying. For Biden or Trump.

28 posted on 01/18/2023 6:50:06 AM PST by Mr.Unique (My boss wants me to sign up for a 401K. No way I'm running that far! )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nagant

Good catch. Thanks for your effort.

Not that it will matter. Everyone in the media will say that a declassification power is implied. That’s not so. But it will probably stick.

Our Republican senators might take a bolder approach: “There is no declassification power. But hey, it’s an honest mistake. So let’s all move on to spending money we don’t have.”


29 posted on 01/18/2023 6:50:08 AM PST by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

Comment #30 Removed by Moderator

To: gundog

Could be but then he’d prove yet again what an idiot he is.

So he can admit to having docs he classified or admit to having lost classified docs


31 posted on 01/18/2023 6:52:04 AM PST by VeniVidiVici (Vote Democrat and stay on the plantation!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

This is going to be their mantra for the next two weeks. As always, they will lie, cheat and steal to protect their man.


32 posted on 01/18/2023 6:53:58 AM PST by I want the USA back (News media are pond scum. My pronouns: Haha, heehee, hoho. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MCSETots

“..They must have done some exhaustive research to come up that....”

Without a doubt
Probably cost pedoPete a big pile of that 10% cash too....just one the costs of doing business with the Chinese these days. /s


33 posted on 01/18/2023 6:55:12 AM PST by lgjhn23 ("On the 8th day, Satan created the progressive liberal to destroy all the good that God created...")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

If any knows it would be Sudiksha Kochi. An “expert” on America. Sarc/ ROTFLMAO.


34 posted on 01/18/2023 6:59:32 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer (Spay and neuter your "migrants" and liberals.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

Let’s have Dershowitz and Jonathan Turley weigh in on this.


35 posted on 01/18/2023 7:00:53 AM PST by Gay State Conservative (No Doubt Now: Stolen Election)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

Scumbag Marxist RATS play buy different rules than everyone else.


36 posted on 01/18/2023 7:01:38 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer (Spay and neuter your "migrants" and liberals.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

What do you expect Snopes or USA Today to say about a scandal a Dem Pres is in? Typical Free Republic poster protecting Democrats.


37 posted on 01/18/2023 7:01:40 AM PST by TakebackGOP
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

The Constutution is an undead document. It means whatever the Left animates it to mean as their need arises. It can even contradict itself when needed.


38 posted on 01/18/2023 7:05:19 AM PST by AndyTheBear
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer
The bigger issue than declassification for both Trump and Biden is were the documents actually sensitive?

If either one declassified sensitive documents just for their convenience I think it's a bigger scandal than sloppy handling.

If ant of these documents were declassified by Trump or Biden they should be released to the public.

39 posted on 01/18/2023 7:06:17 AM PST by semimojo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer
Do Biden’s personal attorneys have the security clearance to search, read and obtain classified documents? Given that these high priced lawyers wouldn’t lower themselves to search through closets and garages, do the lawyers’ aids have the clearance? What are the storage and access requirements of classified documents? Was the Penn Biden Center secure? Is there a log of visitors? Did visitors have clearance? The same goes for Biden’s garage? Did Hunter have clearance when he was in the garage with the Big Guy working on the Corvette?

These questions obfuscate some underlying problems with Big Government or the Deep State. Classification is a tool to hide things, not from our enemies, but from the American people in many cases. Classification allows government to say one thing and deceive citizens by doing another. I’m not saying there are not legitimate reasons for classification, I’m just saying it is over used. And here’s the real security threat. Since classification is so widely used, supposedly millions of documents, there are thousands and thousands of people with security clearances. That in itself is a security risk.

Government is broken. It is so vast and huge that its size is a security risk. Government becomes the enemy of itself. Put another way, since government is representative of people, government is the enemy of the people. As always, my go to solution is make government substantially smaller. This simple solution solves so many problems. Until the GOP remembers this, Republicans are the problem. I don’t want one damn new thing in government until it is reduced in size by 80%. That’s my guess of how much government exists that isn’t in line with the powers enumerated in the US Constitution. Anyways, anything proposed to be new in government supposedly doesn’t already exist. We’ve survived without those new things since 1789 and I’m pretty sure we will thrive without those things.

40 posted on 01/18/2023 7:07:28 AM PST by ConservativeInPA (Stupidly is a moral problem, not an intellectual problem. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-98 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson