Perhaps I fail to understand

[RickHworth]

Trying to compare circumstances, being in possession of stolen (items that do not belong to you) property, that should be in the rightful custody of the Federal Government, not resulting with the immediate arrest and detention of the offender.
This is the same country that will incarcerate immediately some people for traffic violation.

[elleng]

1. JURISDICTION is an important distinction,

often NOT easily understood..

[JoeOtterbein]

2. What we call "laws" in the USA are only used to protect property like...

...*rump's.

From the "unwashed masses". From the start, most of the "unwashed", were/are people of color. Many of whom were enslaved, as "property".

It evolves from there, to here.

(tears)

[Igel]

3. the pivot is "stolen".

You take something from your parents' house that you've used for a while.

They notice it's missing. Is it stolen?

That is, did you take it without permission?

Note the requirements for "classified." Obama issued the last EO stipulating what that meant. Obama wasn't bound by his orders to his underlings. His successors were no less bound. *That* is the problem. Obama didn't bind himself. He couldn't bind Trump.

Since pretty much all authority for classification rests with the President--in this case, Obama, since he last issued (to my knowlege) and EO about such "trivia"--what does that mean for Trump?

That requires not asking, "What does it mean for subordinates?" because Trump wasn't Obama's subordinate. Officially, he was Obama's equal. So every time it comes up with "Was Trump acting within the law?" ask, "Was Obama acting within the law?" Put in the same actions. Often, my response is, "Dunno." I don't inow the details or the case law, if it exists.

[Maraya1969]

6. What are you talking about? It doesn't matter if the documents are classified or not

They are the property of the US government. I don't remember hearing Obama took anything without permission.

[onecaliberal]

7. He didn't. The national archives sent him his personal items after they went through everything.

When he left office.

[stopdiggin]

4. don't know a lot of people that have been 'incarcerated immediately'

for traffic offenses. But thanks for one more version of, "If this was (you chose: an average Joe, government employee, my friend with a security clearance) then he would have hit the slammer so fast .. " And yada, yada. But then, it's not an average Joe at the middle of this. So the point is rather moot. No?

[niyad]

8. Sandra Bland comes to mind.

[rainy]

10. Her story is devastating!

[niyad]

12. Indeed it is.

[stopdiggin]

14. and kind of illustrates why the "traffic stop"

line doesn't really stand up very well.

- Wikipedia - The exchange escalated, resulting in Bland's arrest and a charge of assaulting a police officer. The arrest was partially recorded by Encinia's dashcam, a bystander's cell phone, and Bland's own cell phone. After authorities reviewed the dashcam footage, Encinia was placed on administrative leave for failing to follow proper traffic stop procedures.

Thousands upon thousands of traffic stops occur every day - the tiny minority that end up 'incarcerated' almost never wind up there on account of traffic violations. (warrants, weapons and drugs lead the way by wide margins) Am I giving 'bad policing' a pass by insisting on that basic truth? Not from where I stand.
------ ------

[onenote]

5. Compare circumstances

DOJ is meticulous, as we're seeing in the Oath Keepers trial.

And when it comes to cases involving classified documents, DOJ also is meticulous.

For example, Sandy Berger walked out of NARA with classified documents. That he had done so was discovered by NARA in October 2003 and referred to DOJ shortly thereafter. He was never arrested. He was investigated (an investigation that wasn't publicly acknowledged until 2004) and then plead guilty in 2005 to a misdemeanor and sentenced to two years of probation -- he never spent a day in jail, either before or after his guilty plea.

Or, more recently, federal authorities began investigating Benjamin Pierce Bishop with electronic surveillance at least as early as September 2012 and conducted a search of his home in November 2012. That investigation and search established that he was passing classified information to a Chinese citizen and that he also was in possession of classified materials in his home. A criminal complaint was not sworn out against Bishop until March 2013. Initially, he was released to a halfway house pending trial but he violated the terms of his pre-trial release and returned to custody. But he wasn't sentenced, as part of a plea agreement, until March 2014 -- 18 months after the investigation began.

[Joinfortmill]

9. Yes.

[arthritisR_US]

11. American exceptionalism?

[RockRaven]

13. Different rule enforcement for the patrician and plebeian classes.

Same as it always was.