probably for the same "reason" he was friends with epstein and never exposed the goings on - even though according to trump cult lore, he was TOTALLY about to do it:

he was merely waiting for the right moment to expose everything and never found it. so he just kept visiting paedo island, and hiding secret documents until someone else made it public...

Trump VINDICATED as FBI Affidavit BOMBS!!!
https://www.bitchute.com/video/_IRUXyFGZoM/

Hahahahhahahahhahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahhahahagahagagahahahahhahahahhahagagagagaggagagagaggayayayaggagagagagayyayayayayayayyayayagayayyayahahahahahahahahhahahahahahaahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahhahahhahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahhaha

I'm not going to read the whole thread, but obviously there needs to be some process that happens when a president declassifies information. A president can't just take a bunch of classified information home with him on his last day in office, and without any process, and DOJ barging into his door, claim that whatever he took was declassified. That makes no sense. We have no reason to believe he declassified anything that he had. The declassification argument is obviously post-hoc justification for Trump taking and then withholding classified documents from the government.

Let's also consider the Trumpshill scenario: Trump declassified a bunch of top secret information, for whatever reason, and that absolves him of responsibility. The sane person would ask, "Why did the president do this? Even if this were somehow lawful, why aren't we tarring and feathering a president who would do such a thing?".

To add: when did the argument that Trump declassified these documents first appear? The DOJ and his lawyers had over a year of correspondence.

This post was edited by IceMage on Aug 26 2022 03:50pm

In the affidavit, it mentions that the classification markings are irrelevant. There's literally no reason to even have this discussion in this thread.

Because conceding the point that the classification of these documents is irrelevant because it was "National Defense Information" is completely unnecessary. Trump took and held classified information without being authorized, and he should be held legally responsible for it.

Having the argument distracts from the fruit of the case. There's a reason why the DOJ didn't mention it: they don't it slowed down in the courts and want a slam dunk.

I think what actually happened matters, not just what occurred in legal terms.

Ben Shapiro and idiots like him argue that January 6th wasn't an insurrection because DOJ hasn't charged anyone with insurrection, but anyone can Google what insurrection means and understand that January 6th was an insurrection.

The situation here is different, but I think we should be clear about what happened. There's no reason to concede any bullshit argument, and the "Trump declassified anything that left the Situation Room or the Oval Office" argument is completely ridiculous, and deserves ridicule, and a counter-argument. Why concede anything when the arguments are such obviously bullshit?

This post was edited by IceMage on Aug 26 2022 04:04pm

There needs to be a process for everyone else, as you can't have a criminal penalty for violating the president's authority without due process, which requires established procedures that could be violated. But that doesn't extend to the man with that supreme authority. Nor is there any means to contradict his claims of declassification, because the only person with authority to make that determination is the president. Its a plenary power.

Again as I've pointed out, the constitution already gives both ample plenary powers a president could abuse, and multiple recourses for how they could be checked. Impeachment. Constitutional amendments. An election voting him out. The constitution wasnt set up on the premise that a president is someone you need to prosecute when he does something you find objectionable. It was written to give means to depose a president or check his powers.

It seems like you're embracing the political arsonists, trying to torch the civil fabric of our society. Say what you will about Trump' bloviation and posturing, when push came to shove and he had his chance for a crack at Hillary, he dismissed it, he took the high road and put our country first. Joe Biden talked the high road and tunneled straight into the mud.