Why Did President Trump Have the Documents There?

[Thomas White]

Why did he have the documents at Mar-a-Lago? There's no good reason. I don't understand why he would do something both obvious and simple to avoid.

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/...rump-had-all-that-secret-stuff-at-mar-a-lago/

 

[RDKirk]

Good question. It's not as though they were documents he had personally written. It was kind of like checking out of a hotel and taking the towels and sheets.

 

[Ray Glenn]

Why did he have the documents at Mar-a-Lago? There's no good reason. I don't understand why he would do something both obvious and simple to avoid.

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/...rump-had-all-that-secret-stuff-at-mar-a-lago/

Why were 40 of the folders empty?

When Presidents vacate the offices, they have six hours to bug out. The staff doesn't pack those boxes. GSA packs those boxes and has a contract moving company ship the boxes to the destination chosen by the President.

If correct and the documents were declassified .....there is no procedure to do so ...He can keep anything he wants. Another issue ...Each one of those Classified and Top Secret documents are copies of copies of copies ......Someone else has the originals. Odds are that most of those so called Classified documents are no longer Classified .....outdated material .....Having lost that title long ago ...

If the documents pertained to the classified material covering Cross Fire Hurricane and the FBI fraud for the FISA warrants and fraudulent investigations for more than four years .....Those documents were scanned and reside on a thumb drive somewhere......

The Hill ....may as well be Mother Jones .....

 

[RDKirk]

If correct and the documents were declassified .....there is no procedure to do so ...He can keep anything he wants. Another issue ...Each one of those Classified and Top Secret documents are copies of copies of copies ......Someone else has the originals. Odds are that most of those so called Classified documents are no longer Classified .....outdated material .....Having lost that title long ago

Sorry, that's not the way declassification works. First, If the documents had been declassified by command, any in the White House would have had their markings changed first. If they had been declassified by schedule (which is 20 years minimum) they would have already been re-marked.

Second, you missed the important point that the president doesn't get to take any documentation out of the White House anyway, classified or not.

The White House has people for whom re-marking classified documents is a priority. All copies. People go to prison for screwing that up. It's not a game.

If the documents pertained to the classified material covering Cross Fire Hurricane and the FBI fraud for the FISA warrants and fraudulent investigations for more than four years .....Those documents were scanned and reside on a thumb drive somewhere......

Those documents would not be "classified." They might be For Official Use Only (FOUO), but not classified.

 

[Ray Glenn]

Try again.....I've read the letter that is submitted for declassified documents. I've also held declassified documents and classified documents.

Cross Fire Hurricane is still deemed classified and still titled as such.

The President of the United States can declassify a document at any time. All he has to do is tell another person.

Classified handling is not the same when it gets inside that building....

Those offices were closed and packed by GSA. No one was there telling them what to pack and what not to pack. That wasn't the dispute ....the DOJ had been to Mar A Lago several times and was handed 15 boxes ..... No contest over the documents the Achieves demanded to receive. The dispute is over what was left.

I've been in that Oval Office twice .... Hint, it's not a part of the public tour package. They never get there.

I already know who the supposed mole is .....That wasn't hard to figure out ...

By changing the markings of the headings .....You mean in Hillary Clinton fashion, simply cutting the headings off? Try again ...

 

[The Barbarian]

I don't suppose you're the first person to wonder.

 

[Ray Glenn]

Pity ....

 

[RDKirk]

Try again.....I've read the letter that is submitted for declassified documents. I've also held declassified documents and classified documents.

Cross Fire Hurricane is still deemed classified and still titled as such.

What was the classification and what were the national security regulations by which it was classified? My point is that there are specific national security reasons for classification...not simply "things the current administration would rather people not know." Politicians on the other side of the aisle also have access to all of it, and will certainly call them on it.

The President of the United States can declassify a document at any time. All he has to do is tell another person.

The president can only declassify a document that he (that is, the Executive Branch) first classified. The president cannot declassify a document that was classified by law by the Legislative Branch. Examples include nuclear secrets and the identities of covert American intelligence operatives.

Yes, the president can declassify a document (that he had had classified) by telling either the general public or his staff that X information is open to the public...or even by simply sharing that information to the public. But he has to do at least those things.

Classified handling is not the same when it gets inside that building....

Those offices were closed and packed by GSA. No one was there telling them what to pack and what not to pack. That wasn't the dispute ....the DOJ had been to Mar A Lago several times and was handed 15 boxes ..... No contest over the documents the Achieves demanded to receive. The dispute is over what was left.

It's not as though nobody at Mar A Lago didn't know what they were supposed to return to the National Archives.

I've been in that Oval Office twice .... Hint, it's not a part of the public tour package. They never get there.

What...classified documents never get to the Oval Office? What "they" are you referring to?

I already know who the supposed mole is .....That wasn't hard to figure out ...

By changing the markings of the headings .....You mean in Hillary Clinton fashion, simply cutting the headings off? Try again ...

No. Apparently, you know how it's done...or you claim to. So that was a stupid statement to make.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

One issue that isn't mentioned much is that when Trump was president, he spent most of his time at Mar-A-Lago. He didn't like the WH presidential apartment, and
his wife hated it. Could it be that the documents were at Mar-A-Lago to all along?

I don't know, but there were many empty folders. Were these never filled to begin with?

 

[RDKirk]

One issue that isn't mentioned much is that when Trump was president, he spent most of his time at Mar-A-Lago. He didn't like the WH presidential apartment, and
his wife hated it. Could it be that the documents were at Mar-A-Lago to all along?

I don't know, but there were many empty folders. Were these never filled to begin with?

We know that an actual small SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) was built at Mar-A-Lago for that purpose (as "W" had one built at his Texas ranch). So, certainly, there was information there at one time. But whatever was there would have (should have) been moved out when that SCIF was decertified at the end of Trump's presidency.

 

[The Barbarian]

One issue that isn't mentioned much is that when Trump was president, he spent most of his time at Mar-A-Lago. He didn't like the WH presidential apartment, andhis wife hated it. Could it be that the documents were at Mar-A-Lago to all along?

Turns out, it doesn't matter when they were stolen. It's a crime to move them out of the WH without specific documentation.

I don't know, but there were many empty folders. Were these never filled to begin with?

Seeing as some of the stolen documents have not been found, it's possible that he's already monetized some of them. On the other hand, he's been known to wave an empty "Top Secret" folder to impress visitors, so he might have just grabbed some empty folders for that purpose. Apparently, there's on on the wall of a bar in Trump Tower.
Folder marked ‘classified’ apparently on display at Trump 45-themed bar

This sounds like talking about one's worthless brother-in-law sneaking into the garage and stealing tools and paint.

Except that these things have the potential to gravely damage the United States.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Turns out, it doesn't matter when they were stolen. It's a crime to move them out of the WH without specific documentation.



Seeing as some of the stolen documents have not been found, it's possible that he's already monetized some of them. On the other hand, he's been known to wave an empty "Top Secret" folder to impress visitors, so he might have just grabbed some empty folders for that purpose. Apparently, there's on on the wall of a bar in Trump Tower.
Folder marked ‘classified’ apparently on display at Trump 45-themed bar

This sounds like talking about one's worthless brother-in-law sneaking into the garage and stealing tools and paint.

Except that these things have the potential to gravely damage the United States.

Or the folders never had documents in them to begin with.

 

[The Barbarian]

Or the folders never had documents in them to begin with.

That's what I meant by just grabbing some empty folders. He may have just been using them to impress people, like that bar in his building.

But others had things that truly put us at risk, given the kind of people who had access to them.

 

[The Barbarian]

I've been in that Oval Office twice .... Hint, it's not a part of the public tour package. They never get there.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

That's what I meant by just grabbing some empty folders. He may have just been using them to impress people, like that bar in his building.

But others had things that truly put us at risk, given the kind of people who had access to them.

Trump probably never saw the boxes nor read most of the documents as president. He had people working for him who did that and only informed him of something they thought was important, but they had better be sure it was important, or they'd be fired.

Trump, like George W. Bush, didn't read much, especially about history, culture and issues that require deep thinking. In fact, Obama, was probably the last to do that.

 

[The Barbarian]

Trump probably never saw the boxes nor read most of the documents as president. He had people working for him who did that and only informed him of something they thought was important, but they had better be sure it was important, or they'd be fired.

He rarely reads at all. However, that argument would torpedo his sometimes claim that he declassified all of it.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

He rarely reads at all. However, that argument would torpedo his sometimes claim that he declassified all of it.

Maybe maybe not. He may have irresponsibly declassified the documents, but
nothing has been found to convict him of anything, and the closer we get to
the Mid-Term Elections, the more this looks like a political stunt.

Watch the story change after November, especially if the Democrats keep control of the House and stay the same in the Senate.

 

[Ray Glenn]

The president can only declassify a document that he (that is, the Executive Branch) first classified.

That's not true. He doesn't classify anything. The Legislative Branch also has nothing to do with classification.

Classification level comes from the originating body. However, the President has the power to declassify with a single word ..The only power government wide.

Case in point. In a conversation with a dignitary from another county, he revealed Israeli intelligence, deemed classified. His comments and revelation immediately made the intelligence not classified. Israel was mad for weeks. All he had to do was speak and reveal ...

 

[Ray Glenn]

Ever been in there? Certainly not on the tour ....They don't go into those offices ....

 

[The Barbarian]

My image, but not on a tour. George W. Bush wanted an exact copy of the oval office made for his library at SMU.