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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

LINK ONLY per posting guidelines:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2023/01/17/fact-check-biden-had-authority-declassify-vice-president/11065345002/


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: biden; corvette; documents; garage; sudikshakochi
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Per Obama Ex Order 2009 a VP may classify and declassify his own documents but may not change the classification of existing documents.


41 posted on 01/18/2023 7:07:37 AM PST by WellyP (question!)
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To: semimojo

You’re trying to say apples and oranges are the same.

Nice try, troll.


42 posted on 01/18/2023 7:09:19 AM PST by nesnah (Infringe - act so as to limit or undermine [something]; encroach on)
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To: I want the USA back

This Demonrat defense of Biden just destroyed the rationale for prosecuting Trump.
I’d call it a “Red October” torpedo!


43 posted on 01/18/2023 7:10:34 AM PST by milagro (There is no peace in appeasement! There)
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To: Gay State Conservative

You beat me to it. I will wait until somebody that knows what he is talking about (Professor Turley) weighs in on this.
This sounds very similar to judge shopping.


44 posted on 01/18/2023 7:10:53 AM PST by deek69
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To: WellyP

But if he had that privilege, why were these not declassified? Why did his lawyers stir all of this up...for something that he purportedly had the ability to declassify?


45 posted on 01/18/2023 7:11:00 AM PST by comps4spice (Show me the incentives and I'll show you the outcomes --Charlie Munger)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Ok. If they were declassified, we should be able to see them.

They should make them available through a FOIA request.


46 posted on 01/18/2023 7:11:35 AM PST by Vermont Lt
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To: FlingWingFlyer
If any knows it would be Sudiksha Kochi. An “expert” on America.

As recently as 2021, she was an intern at Politifact.

47 posted on 01/18/2023 7:14:12 AM PST by TankerKC (Be first with the truth. )
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

These are the same people that laughed when Trump said he had the same authority.


48 posted on 01/18/2023 7:16:02 AM PST by Repealthe17thAmendment
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To: comps4spice

The reason for the uproar is that neither Trump(who I love), nor Biden had authority to take these home. They belong to the National Archives after leaving office. Under lock and key under Archive control. That’s the problem.


49 posted on 01/18/2023 7:16:17 AM PST by chuck allen
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To: nagant

Even if Biden had the authority to declassify there would still have to be a paper trail of notifications to various agencies that also held the documents and therefore needed to be informed of their downgraded status.


50 posted on 01/18/2023 7:19:39 AM PST by Starboard
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“It is longstanding practice in the executive branch to treat the vice president as having the same amount of authority in that respect as the president unless the president explicitly says otherwise,” McClanahan said.‘

My BS meter is pegging. VP’s may get an occasional lunch with the Prez, be given some special assignment or attend weddings. Beyond that they don’t do much.

Same amount of authority? LOL


51 posted on 01/18/2023 7:20:52 AM PST by plain talk
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To: tet68
Biden had a “few” documents...Trump had “hundreds”.

And any of those "few" documents could have had nuclear secrets.

52 posted on 01/18/2023 7:20:55 AM PST by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal the 16th Amendment)
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To: mykroar

“It is longstanding practice in the executive branch to treat the vice president as having the same amount of authority in that respect as the president unless the president explicitly says otherwise,” McClanahan said.

Ok, let’s review all docs Veeps have declassified and what they did with them.


53 posted on 01/18/2023 7:21:16 AM PST by Rennes Templar (Come back, President Trump.)
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To: mykroar

McClanahan, who also teaches at the George Washington University Law School, said that under a 2009 executive order signed by Obama, the vice president is included in a list of “original classification authorities,” meaning Biden had the power declassify anything he classified.
***********
Where did Obama get the authority do delegate his Constitutional powers as head of the executive branch?


54 posted on 01/18/2023 7:23:31 AM PST by Socon-Econ (adi)
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To: Leaning Right

Actually I think Harris is relieved


55 posted on 01/18/2023 7:25:53 AM PST by Nifster (OI see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: xzins

“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?”
************************************************************

Nope.
Biden patted his stomach and burped before taking them. Trump didn’t.


56 posted on 01/18/2023 7:27:51 AM PST by Sir Bangaz Cracka (Poor 'lil Travon bees slamming dat white cracka'a head into dat sidewalk causin he be scared)
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To: mastertex

“That don’t mean he can take them home, does it????”

And that’s the point, he can if they are totally declassified and are no longer a threat to the country and the archive releases their control of them. They are a laundry list at that point. But it isn’t “always” easy to declassify a document as there are rules and a paper trail too many times to follow. An example:

Some of the documents the FBI retrieved from Mar-a-Lago had Formerly Restricted Data classification markings on them. Formerly Restricted Data can include information about the nuclear stockpile size, current and past locations of nuclear weapons, weapons yield information (i.e., how powerful they are), and above- or below-ground test results. Under long-standing interpretations of the Atomic Energy Act, such information may be declassified only by the Departments of Energy and Defense. The president is thwarted with this type of document by previous actions of congress.

However, if a president alters a document’s classification status for some other reason like it being more convenient for him to work at home than in a secure facility, or he simply failed to apply the required protections, such an action is arguably an abdication of his Article II responsibility rather than an exercise of it. And the only difference I have seen on both men is that the documents have never been identified as being worked with. (Especially Biden having the documents in his possession back during his terms as VP. He certainly hasn’t been working the documents for 6 to 7 years especially without the use of a security scif that Trump had in Florida)

wy69


57 posted on 01/18/2023 7:29:53 AM PST by whitney69
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To: nagant

Section 3.1.b.1 covers Biden declassifying if he originally classified. A limited exception in fact. “(1) the official who authorized the original classification, if that official is still serving in the same position and has original classification authority;”


58 posted on 01/18/2023 7:31:29 AM PST by Savage Rider
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
LOL at USATODAY, who argued that even Trump, as President, didn't have the power to declassify.

Gannett is a joke, people who work there are a joke, it's not even Gannett really it's GateHouse Media minus the tv, spun off into Tegna.

Trump claims Mar-a-Lago documents were 'declassified.' Why experts reject that argument, USATODAY.com

WASHINGTON — "Former President Donald Trump claimed Friday that any sensitive documents FBI agents took during a search at his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Florida, were "all declassified."

But experts said constitutional powers authorizing a president to declassify documents don't apply to records classified as top-secret or higher, as the information contained in them is usually protected by other federal laws designed to make sure it never falls into the wrong hands."


59 posted on 01/18/2023 7:33:02 AM PST by StAnDeliver (Tanned, rested, and ready.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I was wondering when they create a loop hole and or change the rules.
Brandon is as pure as fresh snow. Beyond reproach. And he likes little girls.


60 posted on 01/18/2023 7:34:56 AM PST by Leep (Hillary will NEVER be president! 😁)
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