Posted on 06/12/2023 4:09:22 PM PDT by thegagline
People in their right minds who care about the country could never defend the factual details of Donald Trump’s conduct, as alleged in the federal indictment unsealed last week.
No one is going to say, “It makes total sense to me that he was storing the crown jewels of national defense — such as how other countries could go about attacking American military vulnerabilities — next to the toilet at a beach club.”
No one is going to say, “I can certainly see why Trump would refuse to return such top-secret intelligence to government officials, who pleaded with him for over a year to return it before finally resorting to coercive measures.”
No one is going to say, “It was so vitally important for Trump, who had no official government duties in his post-presidency, to retain possession of top-secret government intelligence reports that it made sense for him to defy a subpoena and mislead a grand jury in order to keep them.”
No one is going to say, “If a Democratic former president had done what Trump did, I’d be fine with that.”
***
Since Trump’s conduct is indefensible, his apologists have adopted the familiar tactic of making bombastic claims that the prosecution is so fundamentally unfair and un-American that the facts don’t matter. Remarkably, the people asserting these claims never tire of pointing out that Trump is not merely a former president but a current presidential candidate. Putting aside whether he is guilty of crimes (he appears to be, but he’ll get his day in court), what could possibly be more relevant to his fitness for the presidency than the facts of the case?
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
They had the bathroom picture on the front page of the NY post and stated that all those boxes contained confidential material. There was nothing marked that I could see stating what was inside them.I do know that the president is the sole determiner of classified material. There was a 9 to 0 Supreme Court ruling stating this.
Andrew can’t read.
The key question: would you need to go #1 when Andy arrives?
Oh - you’ve heard the tape then?
Rush was a gigantic consistent and loyal supporter of President Trump.
Rush gave light years more support for Trump than what Rush gave to McCarthy or Speaker Ryan.
Did Rush also fellate President Trump?
This guy is SUCH a loser. A pathetic, friendless loser.
I agree, but you didn’t have to tell me that. Everything the deepstate has pulled on Trump since he came down the escalator is and will continue to be bullshit.
That does it for me. This guy is an A-hole POS.
He’s been anti-Trump all the way.
The only person worse than this guy in my eye is Bill Barr. Who is a gutless, coward and deep state hack.
He lied about the Epstein, and he’s lying now about Hunter Biden. He had no courage to go after the guy.
Who is Trump going to pick as his AG?
The mere fact he took the files with him as President declassified them. He was the chief executive. He doesn’t have to clear declassifying them with anyone. To which of his subortinates would he have to clear it with using which rubric?
Typical ignorance of the NR.
Andrew McCarthy is a deep state supporting scumbag.
Precisely
If they are the crown jewels of national defense supposed to be kept from even the eyes of President Trump then please explain why the very act under which they become property of the U.S.Government and kept at the National Archives specifies the former president shall have access to them. There is no reserve on that part of the act.
We can’t he be both?
What's the required procedure for a President to declassify anything? Which law or statute lists the requirement and who checks to see if the procedure was followed? Would it be Trumps boss in the executive branch who doesn't exist? Did Trump have to issue an executive order or list his intent for three consecutive weeks in the legal notices of the Wash Post? The fact he removed the files while still in office declassified them. See BJ Clinton sock drawer tapes.
The most egregious thing here is the willful selective prosecution of Trump to the exclusion of almost everyone else doing the same things who weren't EVEN President! They never even had the privileges of the Chief Executive.
The Espionage Act which he is charged under never mentions the status of the material, just that they contain defense information . What it does mention is whether the possessor has reason to believe the material could be used to cause injury to the United State or to the advantage of any foreign nation.
Not only that the law presumes the material is given over by one means or another to someone not entitled to receive it. Just mentioning it does not meet that criteria.
However the above is moot because the President is not subject to the Espionage Act.
There is none.
As is often the case with these stupid Federal laws, Congress went out and passed criminal statutes related to "classified materials," but never specified what exactly constitutes "classified materials." Instead, Congress left it up to the Executive Branch to establish the protocols for classifying and declassifying sensitive information that is vital to our national security.
So the protocols for classification and declassification aren't established by law. They are established by executive orders and internal Executive Branch rules and regulations -- none of which apply to the President of the United States.
No one is going to say, “If a Democratic former president had done what Trump did, I’d be fine with that.”
Really? 15,000 secret, Top secret, confidential, including TS satellite photos in a unguarded furniture warehouse in Chicago, with no government copies or originals, and not a single Democrat says a word.
They were all ‘fine’ with that.
I agree. Donald Trump was rebutting the lies of General Milley, who lied to Bob Woodward, claiming that he had stopped Trump from (wanting to) wage war on Iran when it was actually Trump who stopped Milley from (wanting to) wage war on Iran.
Now, here Milley is, by the admission of the indictment, lacking actual information that he was not entitled to disclose, that he was not entitled to declassify, that he was not entitled to declare his personal records;
that is subject to national security information laws because he is a lesser official subject to those laws. And yet, there has been no indictment, not even an investigation of Milley, and he is still in legal office today with Republicans in Congress doing jack—about it.
By contrast, the President, is vested by the 2nd article of the United States Constitution, with all executive power. That means the President decides any information that comes in is classified for his benefit and his alone. It is only secret for his benefit and his alone. It is only national security information for his benefit and his alone. He can unilaterally declare anything declassified as “Not national security” a personal record anytime he wants. The mere act of taking documents with him, and let’s remember, he’s not taking original source documents, all of those exist because, as it has been pointed out by members of Congress
and a range of places; these are all digital documents, so they are digitally stored.
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.