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I'd say the National Security question is less of an issue than "If a president declassifies something who has the ability to say otherwise?" Basically, it boi

I'd say the National Security question is less of an issue than "If a president declassifies something who has the ability to say otherwise?" Basically, it boils down to not recognizing the authority of a President of the United States as granted to him by the Constitution and other founding documents. That, if anything, is the National Security Question.

dekhn 4y ago
The president did not declassify these documents. If he had, his lawyers would have produced documentation that he did so. It doesn't happen magically when an ex-president takes the docs and stores them at his residence.
- balentio 4y ago
  That assumes that his lawyers have not, in fact, done so. The legal system is a corrupt disaster which is why the FBI is raiding and doing whatever it pleases. It has actually been doing this for a lot longer than now, it just so happens to be much more apparent now since they are overstepping themselves.
  - dekhn 4y ago
    I'm not going to start a discussion about whether the legal system is corrupt. However, in this case, if the documents had been declassified, he would say that his lawyers have done so (this was an argument being made a few days ago, but it dried up because he hasn't confirmed that).
    - balentio 4y ago
      >I'm not going to start a discussion about whether the legal system is corrupt. That's good, because that'd be very, very stupid. >However, in this case, if the documents had been declassified, he would say that his lawyers have done so (this was an argument being made a few days ago, but it dried up because he hasn't confirmed that). Kinda hard to do if part of what they took were documents concerning that, isn't it? You see the nature of the problem here, I hope.
      - jschveibinz 4y ago
        @dang this is not good dialog
        balentio 4y ago
        What would you suggest to make it better?
- bdavis__ 4y ago
  If they were de-classified, the markings on the document would have been changed. The "Top Secret- SCI" markings would have been crossed out, and a "declassified by: ____" notation would have been made so that it could be traced. Confidential and Secret are not tracked every time they are placed in or removed from storage, but Top Secret should be. There will be a custodian of these documents, and they will have a record of someone removing these from a storage container, but not returning them. The custodian, at a minimum, would be aware of the changing classification of these documents. The authority that originally classified the material would also be aware, because the fact this information is no longer controlled is very important to the work they do.

dekhn 4y ago

The president did not declassify these documents. If he had, his lawyers would have produced documentation that he did so. It doesn't happen magically when an ex-president takes the docs and stores them at his residence.

balentio 4y ago
That assumes that his lawyers have not, in fact, done so. The legal system is a corrupt disaster which is why the FBI is raiding and doing whatever it pleases. It has actually been doing this for a lot longer than now, it just so happens to be much more apparent now since they are overstepping themselves.
- dekhn 4y ago
  I'm not going to start a discussion about whether the legal system is corrupt. However, in this case, if the documents had been declassified, he would say that his lawyers have done so (this was an argument being made a few days ago, but it dried up because he hasn't confirmed that).
  - balentio 4y ago
    >I'm not going to start a discussion about whether the legal system is corrupt. That's good, because that'd be very, very stupid. >However, in this case, if the documents had been declassified, he would say that his lawyers have done so (this was an argument being made a few days ago, but it dried up because he hasn't confirmed that). Kinda hard to do if part of what they took were documents concerning that, isn't it? You see the nature of the problem here, I hope.
    - jschveibinz 4y ago
      @dang this is not good dialog
      - balentio 4y ago
        What would you suggest to make it better?
bdavis__ 4y ago
If they were de-classified, the markings on the document would have been changed. The "Top Secret- SCI" markings would have been crossed out, and a "declassified by: ____" notation would have been made so that it could be traced. Confidential and Secret are not tracked every time they are placed in or removed from storage, but Top Secret should be. There will be a custodian of these documents, and they will have a record of someone removing these from a storage container, but not returning them. The custodian, at a minimum, would be aware of the changing classification of these documents. The authority that originally classified the material would also be aware, because the fact this information is no longer controlled is very important to the work they do.