Update 1-13-2023: It appears that Joe Biden also has had some problems handling classified documents. I see two offenders, and I see two special prosecutors investigating the two cases. So far, the process of doing justice looks pretty even-handed to me.
The natures of the two cases are quite different. One offender is very unrepentant, and was very uncooperative throughout. The other offender is repentant and very cooperative. So I would expect different outcomes, if justice is properly done.
I hear a lot of noise in the media and on the internet about this, especially from what we call "right wing"-slanted sources, yammering about how unfairly their favorite offender was treated.
All of that is utter bullshit!
No one should care what the media, the pundits, or the politicians think and say about these cases. I certainly don't! The only thing of substance here will be the outcomes of these two cases in the courts. That's going to take a while.
Update 1-25-2023: And it appears Mike Pence has also had a problem with classified documents. He is repentant and cooperative, like Mr. Biden. I would suggest that all former Presidents and Vice Presidents, their Cabinet officials, and all members of both houses of Congress be searched. I would hazard the guess that there is a lot more improperly-possessed and stored classified material out there!
Part of my thesis is that the people in powerful positions of government are held to a different standard than ordinary folks, when it comes to handling classified material. Repentance and cooperation should not be part of the charging decision, only the sentence imposed, as it is with ordinary folks. My point is that no one is above the law, we should all be handled the same way.
We will see if DOJ can do its job.
Update 1-30-2023: It appears that the National Archives agrees with me that other former officials might have stuff that is not legal. They have asked half a dozen former Presidents and Vice-Presidents to search their files for classified documents. I still think current members of both houses of Congress would be a good target for such investigative searches.
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There is nothing unexplained about the Mar A Lago
raid! There was a very explicit, court-approved warrant with supporting
affidavit, preceded by subpoenas and other
requests that were ignored or illegally denied,
plus a prior recovery of improperly stored classified materials last
January. There is a pair of signed (by
Trump lawyers) inventories of items taken by the FBI in August. Among those items (and dominating them in
importance) are various additional classified materials.
That issue of improperly-handled classified materials is the
only issue I explore here.
These classified documents included confidential, secret,
top secret, top secret/special access
required (SAR), and top secret/sensitive
compartmented information (SCI) materials,
among some other special categories.
SAR means you must have a justified need-to-know to even see the
document at all, regardless of your confidential, secret,
or top secret clearance. SCI
requires armed guards watching over you in a properly-secured location (like a
vault or military base), as you view the
document.
None of those classified materials taken from Mar A Lago was
secured in any kind of safe, much less
the government-approved safe that is the only approved thing to be used for
such purposes! They were laying about
in boxes! Mar A Lago is not an
approved, registered site for such
documents to be stored, even if a proper
safe were on the site (which Mr. Trump’s wasn't).
And, there is absolutely nothing about Mar A Lago that makes it a candidate for viewing SCI materials, after he left office. There was a SCIF (Secret Compartmented Information Facility) there, during his presidency, but it was removed when he left office. Which means no SCI documents can currently be viewed there, nor can any be stored there.
All the hoopla over making public the affidavit and warrant is irrelevant legal maneuvering to avoid facing justice. All the noise about whether this was a properly ordered raid is irrelevant propaganda to avoid facing justice. There are two (and only two) things that are relevant here: (1) documents marked classified were left unsecured in an unapproved location, and (2) Donald Trump had effective possession of them, they being within his residence. Those facts are essentially self-proving, and they constitute multiple very serious violations of federal law, at the felony level.
There are still some real issues to decide. The most important is: were these
documents with classification markings actually classified materials? Some person or office originally classified
these things, which under the law then
require proper handling, subject to a
penalty if mishandled. Such can become
declassified, and not all the copies
originally distributed may have been re-marked as declassified. That happens quite frequently, actually.
Once actually declassified,
they can legally be kept by persons without security clearances, and be stored unsecured, even in private residences.
In prior decades,
there was a routine classification downgrade schedule for many
classified documents (not all of them),
usually on a 12-year cycle from the publication date. Such classified documents had exactly that
marking on their front page or cover.
Secret reverted to confidential after 12 years, then to unclassified 12 years after
that, and so forth.
That changed during the Reagan administration, which essentially means all classified
documents generated since then remain classified “forever”, unless explicitly declassified by the
originating agency, or by the
president. Whether that is the right
policy is debatable (military secrets being the most fleeting of all
secrets). But, it is the policy in place.
A sitting president can indeed declassify things all by himself, something done before (for one, George W. Bush with intelligence regarding
Iraq weapons of mass destruction), and
upheld by the courts. But the way
this must be been done generates a paper trail: a document written and signed by the president
that he actually did declassify something,
and (critically) a description in that declassification record document specifying
exactly what he declassified. This implies
that anything not so specified is still classified. Just his verbal word is not enough! And that authority goes entirely away when he
leaves office. Period!
Either
that presidential declassification paper trail exists for the documents found
at Mar A Lago, or it does not! If not,
the marked documents were mishandled:
an open-and-shut case against somebody!
Period! Claims otherwise are
bullshit, to borrow a coarse but
accurate term from former attorney general Bill Barr.
Those violations rate up to 10 years in prison per offense
(and each and every single document left unprotected is a separate offense
under the law)! If I had mishandled
so many classified documents when I was dealing with them 40-50 years ago, I would still be in jail today, without any hope of ever getting out. Intention or not to do harm doesn't matter
under the law. Only improperly handling documents
matters, as demonstrated by many cases against
ordinary persons like me over the decades.
The
only other issue to resolve is who actually caused the marked documents to be
boxed up and sent to Mar A Lago illegally, when Mr. Trump left office. Under the law, the person who ordered this action bears
prime responsibility, but those who
carried out his instructions also bear responsibility. The person who owns and resides at Mar A Lago
(Mr. Trump) also bears responsibility no matter who ordered this, since the mishandled documents were inside
his place of residence! So, if justice is to be done correctly, there are multiple cases against multiple
individuals here. It is not about who you should
charge with a crime and who you should not.
They all must be charged!
There is a double standard of justice in this
country, though! You apparently get all the “justice” your
money and your political power can buy. The
Justice Department often chooses to let powerful public figures off with lesser
punishments, or even none at all, using "no intent to do harm" as the
excuse.
They did exactly that with Hillary Clinton’s use of unsecured
private phones for State Department business calls, some of which were actually classified; in part because she quit doing that, after being called to task for it. Mr. Trump (and several others) should be
going to jail for what he and his people did,
for a very long time indeed,
but they won't do that to him!
Money and power talk. Unfortunately.
However it is very clear that he (and they) should serve
some significant jail time, plus the associated
penalty (under the law) of never again holding any federal office. That is what is done with ordinary people like
me, and Mr. Trump must not be above
the law, despite his being a former
president!
Mr. Trump quite-apparently committed multiple counts
of federal felonies. In my opinion, he’s pretty much already convicted
himself, as demonstrated by the facts
uncovered in the raid. However, we will see if justice is really done. It will happen slowly, so be patient.
“Trying” him quickly in the press or social media is irrelevant.
Let the Justice Department do its job, and let them get this “right”, something the press and social media rarely
achieve. But feel free to publicly
encourage the Justice Department to do their job more swiftly. This outcome will affect who can, and cannot,
run in future presidential elections,
and it will impact future midterm elections.
They have to address the espionage act violations, plus the issues of mishandling presidential
records, and any obstruction of justice
items (per the warrant). It’s a big job
all together, but the espionage act
violations should come first, being the
most serious.
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Update 7 Sept 2022: A federal judge has ordered that a "special master" be appointed to review the materials confiscated from Mar A Lago, which will slow down DOJ's investigations. Many experts question whether that "special master" is an appropriate action at all. This is not the judge and court that authorized the search warrant, but this judge is a recent Trump appointee. That does suggest "judge shopping", which is not exactly illegal, but it is unethical. It also suggests this particular judge may prioritize returning the favor to Trump above upholding the law equally for all. If that proves to be the case, it is a violation of her oath of office, and thus an impeachable offense.
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Update 10-5-2022: It would appear that Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump appointee who ordered the special master, fairly consistently sides with the Trump lawyers. That is prima facie evidence of political considerations prioritized by her above doing her sworn job of justice for all. That is grounds for impeachment.
Meanwhile, Trump did not get what he wanted from the "special master" that he and DOJ agreed upon, so he has now gone to the Supreme Court, to see if his 3 appointees (plus the 3 somewhat like-minded conservatives there) will do what he needs to avoid jail. If they do, they will have violated their oaths of office to do equal justice for all under the law.
It is becoming painfully clear that the Trump legal team is desperately grasping at any straw, no matter how dubious, to delay or prevent the prosecution of Mr. Trump for some rather serious crimes. That alone should speak volumes about what is really true here!
Update 11-22-2022: It now appears that former vice president Mike Pence agrees with me: Trump had absolutely no excuse for the presence of classified materials at Mar A Lago (or any other site he possesses). Trump is only a year younger than Biden; any questions about Biden being too old for another term also apply to Trump! In my opinion, the real reason he is running for president again, is to forestall DOJ indictments for the classified materials mishandling, and for inciting the Jan 6 insurrection (the House committee did a lot of DOJ's work for them). He hopes the presidential politics of being a candidate will cause DOJ to hesitate. I'm hoping the special prosecutor Garland just appointed will be tough enough to just get on with the job, in a timely fashion. It is simply past time Trump went to trial for these crimes he so apparently committed.
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