"The documents are so sensitive that they may not be able to describe them in an unclassified way.."

[Nevilledog]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/25/trump-oversight-records/

No paywall
https://archive.fo/vvOjI

*snip*

The inventory is expected to provide more information on the volume and scope of classified documents, including details on the level of classification, according to two people familiar with the matter. There are records at the very highest levels of classification, including some that can be viewed by only a small number of government officials, those two people said.

“There are records that only a very few have clearances” to review, one of the people told The Post. The documents are so sensitive that they may not be able to describe them in an unclassified way, and, therefore, such documents might be described broadly in a classified addendum to the inventory, according to the two people.

Maloney also requested a description of any potential reviews conducted by other federal agencies of the contents of the recovered boxes, all presidential records transferred to the Archives that Trump “had torn up, destroyed, mutilated, or attempted to tear up, destroy or mutilate,” and communications between the Trump White House and the Archives related to the Presidential Records Act.

“I am deeply concerned that former president Trump may have violated the law through his intentional efforts to remove and destroy records that belong to the American people,” Maloney wrote. “This Committee plans to get to the bottom of what happened and assess whether further action is needed to prevent the destruction of additional presidential records and recover those records that are still missing.”

*snip*

[dalton99a]

1. Putin's whore probably gave him a copy

[underpants]

6. Putin's battle plans?

[SheltieLover]

28. No doubt!

Lock the slob up!

[SergeStorms]

2. I'm sure his man-crush Putin has copies....

of everything.

That rotten, traitorous prick should be hung in a public execution. I hate that low-life asshole with the energy of a thousand suns!

[I_UndergroundPanther]

50. At least with a public execution

We would really know for sure that fucker is actually dead.

[liberalla]

3. Bookmarking

I really appreciate when you include a "no paywall" link.
Thanks!

[ck4829]

4. But they clearly must have been leaked, that's what all those Q-drops were about, right?

I mean it's not like it was just gibberish for rubes to think they found secrets in the text, right? Right?

[durablend]

5. This is *somehow* Biden's fault

You know that's coming

[EleanorR]

7. Emptywheel thinks this might be connected to Michael Ellis actions post 1/6

Link to tweet

The DOD IG found that Ellis’ hiring itself wasn’t a problem. But it also found that NSA Director Paul Nakasone correctly responded by holding up the process when Ellis was involved in two security incidents in the days after January 6. In both cases, Ellis was treating NSA information improperly.

First Security Incident

An NSA employee received a controlled, classified NSA notebook of documents on January 7, 2021, from a Department of State official who was not authorized to access that information. An initial NSA review further found that several copies of the notebook had been produced without NSA authorization. This event raised concerns that other individuals possessed copies of these sensitive materials without NSA authorization.

[NSA Deputy Director George] Barnes told us that “[they] were spending the last week or so of the administration trying to find out who had them, where they were, and trying to get them back into positive control before the administration members left.” NSA officials received information on January 13, 2021, that Mr. Ellis either created or directed the copying of these notebooks of documents with compartmented, classified information without NSA knowledge, consent, or control.

Second Security Incident

On January 8, 2021, an NSA employee tried to retrieve an NSA document from Mr. Ellis that contained information of a classified, controlled, compartmented NSA program “of some of the most sensitive information that NSA possesses.” Mr. Barnes told us that Mr. Ellis refused to return the document, retained it for the White House archives, and, based on what the NSA employee saw, placed the document in a container that did not meet the security storage requirements for such a sensitive program. Mr. Barnes told us that he contacted Mr. Eisenberg on January 9, 2021, for help obtaining the document, and the document was returned to the NSA on January 14, 2021. Mr. Barnes said, “The White House people were all leaving so every day new members were leaving and so we were prioritizing on identifying our documents that needed to be brought under positive control and accounted for.” [italicized brackets and bold mine]

When Nakasone was asked about this by the IG, he explained that the intelligence deals with a particular foreign actor.

I learned … that we had questions about the way that Mr. Ellis had handled our most sensitive intelligence that deals with a foreign actor when he was in the White House. … and I’m not able to get the actual full details until that Tuesday [January 19]. … I’m … growing concerned… I have an OGC that I’ve said is okay to be hired, now we have concerns about his clearance. We have concerns about merit. We have concerns about an ongoing inquiry by the DoD IG. And so, my sense was … let’s get this all resolved… before he actually becomes the General Counsel for the National Security Agency. [emphasis mine]

https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/02/11/while-trump-was-secretly-loading-up-documents-mike-ellis-was-hoarding-an-nsa-document-at-the-white-house/

[Nevilledog]

9. I totally forgot about that!

[EleanorR]

12. Me too

Hard to keep track of all the criming.

Ellis was appointed as the general counsel of the National Security Agency during the closing days of the Trump administration in 2020. NSA director Paul Nakasone opposed the appointment, but was ordered by acting defense secretary Christopher Miller to install Ellis to the position.

[Nevilledog]

13. Marcy Wheeler knows all.

I follow her closely, but can't keep up.

[Lonestarblue]

17. I assume the particular foreign actor was Putin.

Was Putin en encouraging Trump to overturn the election, not that he needed any encouragement? He had plenty of that from the kooks around him. This seems like a very big deal. I hope it is thoroughly investigated and those who stole classified documents prosecuted. My faith is waning, though.

[Harker]

22. That's a pretty good bet.

My first thought was Hugh Grant.

[tinrobot]

23. A foreign actor in the White House?

That adds a bit of specificity.

[Hekate]

8. I bet Jared "no clearance needed" Kushner had access...

Once again, I’m grateful for the archive link. It means a lot.

[Chainfire]

10. That might be a good excuse to not prosecute him.

It is not in the "national interest" to have to bring these documents to light.

As you might guess, I have lost a lot of faith in our system of justice as it pertains to people of money and influence. It still works great if you get caught with a dime bag of crack though, so I guess it all balances out...

[Nevilledog]

11. They can leave those out of the prosecution.

It's not like the DOJ has never prosecuted anyone for this type of violation.

[fwvinson]

14. Ask Jarid kushner and his lovely bride

since they were the ones who passed them out to all of our enemies, especially Russia.

[Javaman]

15. Just found another link with a quoted about what's on the docs..

"some important stuff that contain things that we can't talk about".

LOL

[Nevilledog]

16. It's hard to talk about stuff you can't talk about.

[Javaman]

27. wink wink nudge nudge say no more..

say no more... LOL

[patphil]

18. This could be Trump's biggest problem.

Theft of classified material is serious stuff.

[LymphocyteLover]

25. problem is it's too easy to wave away saying that as president, he can declassify everything

and so it's hard to prove a crime-- that's not MY position, but I've seen others argue this here.

[ForgedCrank]

19. "Expected to",

"may be", "may not", "may have", and on and on and on.
I've been hearing this same BS for months now. Years even.
Ever wonder why no one has shown us any real evidence? And no, I don't have an answer as to why, but they don't. They never do.
I don't believe a single one of them at this point. I'm tired of "inside sources" and potential evidence claims, all they are doing is yapping when they should be laying the cards out and doing something about it. They either have nothing solid enough to work with, or they are afraid to do something about it, I don't know which it is, but I do know I'm not falling for it anymore. The only thing I'm interested in hearing is "charges have been filed". Outside of that, they are all full of it as far as I am concerned.

[SpankMe]

20. Someone please explain something to me

This paragraph from the article:

Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed that the Justice Department has been in touch with the Archives about the discovery of classified material in boxes taken earlier this week from Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., but stopped short promising a full investigation.

They actually recovered classified documents from Mar-a-Lago. DoJ has "been in touch" with the Archives about this classified material. The material has been characterized as so classified that it can't even be described in an unclassified way, and only a few people in the whole government are even allowed to read it.

And DoJ "stopped short of promising a full investigation"?

Just what the fuck am I missing? Talk to me, someone!

[LymphocyteLover]

24. hard to know if that means anything or not... was he specifically asked that?

Certainly he's not going to comment on an ongoing investigation

[vanlassie]

33. "Stopped short promising?"

Or
“Stopped short, promising?”
Or
“Stopped short of promising?”

[LymphocyteLover]

21. isn't that freaking unreal?

[BlueIdaho]

26. Stealing State Secrets.

A former President has no right to keep, sell, or give away top secret documents.

[calimary]

37. Like that would ever have stopped Agent Orange.

Wonder who he’s sold those secrets to (I suspect one individual in particular, to whom the donald has often professed a fondness).

[crickets]

48. And you just know he has done all three.

My fear is that all of it has already been gone through and copied in the time that it was in tfg's tiny hands.

[SheltieLover]

29. Lock the slob up!

[The Mouth]

30. Fuck that.

The *ONLY* things that should ever be classified are the actual identies of secret agents and some capabilities of weapons and defense systems.

Show me someone saying something should be classified that isn't a matter of life or death to the nation from foreign enemies or domestic terrorists and I'll show you someone who needs a long, long jail sentence.

And *EVERYTING* should be completely declassified after some short period.

If taxpayer dollars paid for it, we all have the right to know it.

[COL Mustard]

45. We routinely classify sources and methods for intelligence purposes.

We also classify war plans and asset allocations (where the boom makers are). We do that so the bad guys don't know what we have where. But yeah, lots of stuff has been over-classified. That needs to stop.

[The Mouth]

47. Some stuff, sure. but it *ALL* should be known at the first chance

No source, no intel, is more important than our government knowing that we will find out *everything* done with even one taxpayer cent, and sooner rather than later.

The government - any part of it - deserves no more privacy or opacity than the NSA/CIA/FBI would give me at their greatest effort.

I don't want the government to have any more power under a good, Democratic administration than I want it to have under the most evil, deranged, and corrupt administration. Never create a tool/weapon that you don't want the enemy to also have.

[turbinetree]

31. Cut off his phone service, electricity, water, and just lock his ass up and those that helped pack

this stuff in boxes....

[ffr]

32. Fucking Russians! I'm mean, Republicans!

[jaxexpat]

34. This should give rise to a question, in the light of Trumps abuse of classified documents,....

is there something wrong with the system? We all hope to get to the bottom of bad things we know are happening but when the dust settles all we see or hear is ridiculously redacted script or a stone wall of "classified" designation. Legitimate or not, the preponderance makes it possible to maintain a scam, keeping the public uninformed and that makes it easier to make people believe any stupid lie the next talking head makes up.

Hey people, secrecy sucks the joy out of people's lives. They, in turn, engender a distorted and hopelessly cynical society. It's the basis of mistrust and suspicion.

At some point, I believe we'll either have to radically declassify or shut the experiment down. Because nothing will have legitimate relevance to the voting public.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

35. We're any found in an unmailed addressed envelope to Putin?

[halfulglas]

36. TFG's retirement plan.

[McKim]

38. How Timely of the Russians to Invade!

How timely of the Russians to invade now. The news is now suddenly all about Russia and Ukraine, taking the spotlight off of Trump and his family......very convenient just as things were getting hot. We need to keep the news on this and our supreme court nominee!

[CaptainTruth]

39. Can I say "Lock Him Up!"?

After due process, of course.

[NoMoreRepugs]

40. The nefarious SlobFather continues to hit new heights as the most high profile ENEMY of Democracy

since - YES, I'll say it - Hitler.

[in2herbs]

41. Arrest tfg now and while he's serving a 20-year sentence for this the 1/6 insurrection

can be more fully developed by the Cte. and he can be charged and tried on that.

Capone was convicted of tax evasion and not his other crimes. Like Capone I'm more than happy to get tfg in jail on any crime.

[C Moon]

42. Hang the mfr!!!

[Horse with no Name]

43. What a dilemma?

He could have declassified them with the utterance of a word, yet he didn’t want anyone to see them so he had to keep them classified. I’d say knock knock? Is that you karma?
Others have gone to jail for much much less.

[COL Mustard]

44. I'm a Federal employee with a security clearance

If I EVER did something like this - EVER, even ONE document - I would be fired from my job, prosecuted and locked up with my security clearance gone forever. This is outrageous. He knew better. People around him knew better. When he was POTUS he could declassify whatever he wanted, but if he is still in possession of highly classified material he's got a problem. The question is, what will we do about it?

[Pinback]

46. Plunging to new depths

"This Committee plans to get to the bottom of what happened and assess whether further action is needed."



Sorry! My inner eighth grader posted that.

[marie999]

49. I like when they say things are so sensitive nobody but a few can see them.

My army records, except for medical records which had to be reviewed before they were released, have been flagged since 1964 because of special intelligence. I can't even tell what countries I was stationed in overseas. My DD-214 doesn't even have me listed as being overseas which is funny because my parents took me to the airport to take a commercial flight so they at least knew one place I was sent. Every January I ask to see them and every year I get the same document saying they are flagged. I won't get an answer this year because Covid-19 has the people in archives backed up. I think most documents are classified because they could embarrass someone.

[BComplex]

51. And yet he still walks free. No jail time. All crimes requiring jail time.

THIS is what cannot stand.

[XacerbatedDem]

52. Kick