When we last checked in on the government’s criminal investigation into Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents after he left office, things did not appear to be going great for the former guy. For one, we learned last month that the Justice Department had uncovered “significant” evidence that Trump may have obstructed justice, which the ghost of Richard Nixon will tell you is never a good thing. For another, “nearly everyone” who works at Mar-a-Lago—the place where he was stashing the majority of the classified docs—has been subpoenaed by prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith. And now, according to a new report, the shit has continued to hit the fan.
The National Archives and Records Administration, according to multiple sources who spoke to CNN, is “set to hand over to special counsel Jack Smith 16 records that show Trump and his top advisers had knowledge of the correct declassification process while he was president.” In a letter sent to Trump on Tuesday, NARA’s acting archivist Debra Steidel Wall wrote, “The 16 records in question all reflect communications involving close presidential advisers, some of them directed to you personally, concerning whether, why, and how you should declassify certain classified records.”
Why is this bad news for the former POTUS? Because ever since the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago last year—and found more than 100 classified documents that were not supposed to be there, and which Team Trump had falsely claimed in a certification had been turned over—Trump has claimed that he had the power to declassify them without going through the proper protocols or even mentioning anything to anyone. He’s said this on numerous occasions, but most notably when he told Sean Hannity he could declassify classified documents…with his mind. (Actual quote: “There doesn’t have to be a process [to declassify], as I understand it…if you’re the president of the United States you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified, even by thinking about it…. There can be a process but there doesn’t have to be.”)
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More recently, at last week’s disastrous CNN town hall, he falsely claimed to moderator Kaitlan Collins that government procedure allowed him to take whatever he wanted from the White House—and in doing so, the items in question were automatically declassified.
“I had every right to under the Presidential Records Act,” Trump told Collins when she asked him why he took documents after he left office. “You have the Presidential Records Act. I was there and I took what I took and it gets declassified.” (To be clear, that is not how any of this works.) Last year, following the raid, Trump also took to claiming that he had a “standing order” to declassify documents—but more than a dozen administration officials said they knew nothing of said standing order, and that such a notion was “ludicrous,” “ridiculous,” and a “complete fiction.”
Anyway, as CNN notes, the 16 records NARA is preparing for Smith “may provide critical evidence establishing the former president’s awareness of the declassification process, a key part of the criminal investigation into Trump’s mishandling of classified documents.” The records could also help reveal “whether he willfully disregarded what he knew to be clearly established protocols,” according to an individual “familiar with recent testimony provided to the grand jury by former top Trump officials.” Which is probably why, per Wall’s letter, Trump previously tried to block the special counsel from accessing the 16 documents in question. (In her letter, Wall informed the ex-president that Smith’s office has said it “is prepared to demonstrate with specificity to a court, why it is likely that the 16 records contain evidence that would be important to the grand jury’s investigation.”)
The records are set to be handed over on May 24, unless Trump gets a court to block them. And if we know the former guy—and we think we do—he’s quite obviously going to try.
ImmunoBgTD420 on May 19th, 2023 at 11:39 UTC »
Why do we, the people, have to prove he knew it was a crime? I thought ignorance is not a valid defense? All the time, the bar seems to be set too low for this guy.
kiltedturtle on May 19th, 2023 at 09:52 UTC »
“I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to steal. “ “It’s the law.” “Well I didn’t know the law.” “Yes you did, we made you take a class.” “I was busy that day.” “Here is the paper you signed at the end of the class.”
“Ummm. Wait, that was Jared that did that. Maybe he didn’t know?” “He was in the same class.” “No, no, I would have remembered that.” “Sir, here is a picture of you together and both of you are holding your certificates.”
“Fake news....”. (...end scene) /s
MillerTime5858 on May 19th, 2023 at 09:34 UTC »
Please end this national nightmare and throw this man in jail already.