National Archives acknowledges classified documents were found in boxes at Mar-a-Lago after Trump le

[swag]

Source: CNN


By Katelyn Polantz

CNN —
The National Archives acknowledged Friday it has discussed with the Department of Justice that classified records were found in boxes at Mar-a-Lago after former President Donald Trump left office, according to a letter from Archivist David Ferriero to the House Oversight Committee.

The letter, released by the Archives Friday, also provided more detail on reports that Trump tore up records after being warned not to while he was President.

The Archives arranged for the transport of about 15 boxes of records from Trump’s Florida resort last month after the agency sought them from the former President’s team.

“NARA has identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes,” Ferriero wrote, responding to a question from the House. “Because NARA identified classified information in the boxes, NARA staff has been in communication with the Department of Justice.”

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/18/politics/national-archives-trump-department-of-justice/index.html

[ruet]

1. Yeah, But What About...

her emails?

[Tommymac]

2. Shhhhh! 🤫

[lagomorph777]

3. Merrick, Merrick....?

[DanieRains]

4. Lock Him Up

Lock Him Up
Lock Him Up
Lock Him Up
Lock Him Up
Lock Him Up
Lock Him Up
Lock Him Up

[Botany]

5. Let me guess what those documents covered.

Trump and Russia.

The man has been and still is an active Russian asset.

A New Report Adds Evidence That Trump Was a Russian Asset
He helped Putin manipulate the U.S. election in 2020, as he did in 2016.

As to Russia, the report leaves no doubt: In 2020, as in 2016, “President Putin authorized, and a range of Russian government organizations conducted, influence operations” to help Trump and hurt his Democratic opponent. For example, “Shortly after the 2018 midterm elections, Russian intelligence cyber actors attempted to hack organizations primarily affiliated with the Democratic Party.” Then, in late 2019, Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU, “conducted a phishing campaign against subsidiaries of Burisma holdings, likely in an attempt to gather information related to President Biden’s family.” Throughout the 2020 election, agents “connected to the Russian Federal Security Service,” FSB, planted negative stories about Biden. Internet operatives working for the Kremlin, including the troll farm that had boosted Trump in 2016, continued to promote “Trump and his commentary, including repeating his political messaging.”

Attacks on Biden and his son, Hunter, were part of this operation. Through “US officials and prominent US individuals, some of whom were close to former President Trump and his administration,” the report says Russia’s intelligence services “repeatedly spread unsubstantiated or misleading claims about President Biden and his family’s alleged wrongdoing related to Ukraine.” In this way, Trump’s circle “laundered” the Russian-planted stories, which were then recirculated—and promoted by Russia’s online proxies—as American news.


https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/03/trump-russian-asset-election-intelligence-community-report.html

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

6. How many of the classified documents are missing?

... does the NARA know what they are expecting to get back from TFG, or is it anyone's guess what he took and what he still retains, or has already passed on to one of his, "visitors", to the club?

[groundloop]

7. Has it ever been disclosed how those documents were found at Mar a Lago?

I can't imagine 45* simply letting someone waltz in and look for top secret documents, and he's PROBABLY not stupid enough to blab to anyone and everyone that he's got top secret documents stashed there.

Did the National Archives get a search warrant? I've just never heard how this stuff was discovered.

[Slammer]

21. documents

According to tonight's Rachel Maddow Show, the National Archives had been in negotiations with Trump since sometime in the middle of last year to get him to voluntarily turn over the documents.

And Trump eventually turned over (what appears to be), a certain subset of documents that he stole.

[Javaman]

8. check the orange assholes plumbing. nt

[greatauntoftriplets]

9. Of course there were.

He thinks they're his.

[SamKnause]

10. And we can we expect Mar-a-Lago to be searched by a swat team and Trump to be arrested ???

Just kidding I already know the answer, NEVER !!!

The "justice system" in this country is a cruel evil joke.

[marie999]

11. Can't Trump say that all the documents he has he declassified when he was president?

[Justice matters.]

12. I only can guess there must be an "official" procedure to follow for that.

If so, it would mean the orange Russian mole didn't follow it (anyone surprised?)

[NotHardly]

13. Fine... all well and good... however...

And what, in the name of delay delay and delay, is the Justice Department going to do that would be any different than the inertia already on display?

[Ohioboy]

14. One thing is for sure

Trump is not very bright.

[Historic NY]

15. But her damn emails....

boxes of classified stuff. We need a Benghazi style Committee to go over those classified files.

Meanwhile, the press is like Bueller.

[SergeStorms]

16. Those are the boxes they found.

I'm sure the Orange Pig has more boxes stored in other places with the country's crown jewels contained within.

Trump is going to need money, and he's going to need it quickly. What else would he have to trade for large amounts of cash at a moments notice? A gold plated crapper? 55 gal. drums of bronzing spray? Ivanka?

This traitor would give foreign countries our state secrets without a blink of an eye. And I imagine he will.

[slightlv]

17. If we gets away with mishandling and/or destroying

classified documents, then I think we need to push for Reality Winner to be absolved of her crime. This whole thing of two justice systems -- one for the rich and powerful and one for the rest of us has got to stop. And with Trump, it's so pathetically obvious.
We've got people in jail right now who've done so much less than Trump and those in his inner circle. I truly think they should be let out, at least on parole, if Trump and his inner circle are simply slapped on the wrist. The "justice" system we have in this country needs to be reformed from the bottom to the top. Pull it out by the roots and start over again. This one ain't working for 99% of the country!

[MurrayDelph]

18. Soledad lowers the Boom

Link to tweet

[maxrandb]

19. I was a Security Manager during two of my Navy tours

They would have thrown me under Leavenworth if I had done something like this.

It doesn't matter that he "was" President. The second Joe Biden took office, Donnie Dipshit lost the authority to classify or declassify shit.

This stuff is taken seriously...at least it used to be.

How were the documents transported? In a fucking moving van?

Were they properly secured for the entire trip to Moron-Lago?

Who has access to them?

People have gone to jail for this. Careers have been ruined for this. Solders, Sailors, Airman and Marines have died because this stuff has ended up in the wrong hands.

Heads should roll for this.

[ificandream]

24. Very much agree.

The 1/6 committee should take action ASAP.

[Slammer]

20. embezzlement

In my opinion, it is very unfortunate that they found classified documents among the stolen documents.

Look at it this way:

1) Each document which Trump had sole possession of is a violation of the Freedom of Information Act. Him having it is a one year in jail sentence according to the FOIA because the government didn't have it to respond to potential FOIA requests.

2) Each document which Trump had sole possession of is a violation of federal embezzlement law. Him having it is a one year in jail sentence per document. And there is at least 15 boxes of documents in question.

3) Each document which Trump had sole possession of is a violation of the Presidential Records Act. I looked up the specifics of FOIA and federal embezzlement law but haven't yet done it for the Presidential Records Act. If it were instead the National Records Act, which covers non-presidential records, there would be a one year jail sentence per document.

So basically there's at a minimum of two years in jail per document plus whatever the penalty is for the Presidential Records Act. There's people in federal prisons at this very moment for having sole possession of their work documents and they're there for FOIA, embezzlement, and violating the National Records Act. Slam dunk.

Okay so what's wrong with adding classified documents to the list?

Basically it's because that's all anyone will talk about. Instead of prosecuting Trump for the laws we know for sure he violated, everyone (media and feds) will go off down a classified records argument rabbit hole.

The president can classify and declassify documents at will. His defenders the media will argue that it's perfectly okay for him to have those documents because he declassified them.

There's no set procedure for a president to follow to declassify documents so there's no real way to prove whether he declassified them then just never got around to striking out the "Classified" label across the top of the document.

Everyone, eventually, is going to completely disregard the fact that according to federal law that Trump embezzled the documents and everything will descend into a morass of arguing about classification issues which may or may not ever amount to anything.

The public understands embezzlement. If we make the argument "Trump embezzled from the federal government" we can demonstrate that to the public because we have video of the government retrieving embezzled items from the president's home.

You can't spin "embezzlement is in reality a good thing" or "a president is allowed to embezzle from the government". And people, even true believers, wouldn't swallow that if you tried.


Federal embezzlement statute
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/641

[tonekat]

22. Desperate Donny

Probably wanted to charge agents from Pakistan, NK, Russia and China to come and have a nice look-see at those documents. Copying services available for a nominal fee.

[Evolve Dammit]

23. I wonder what he has already sold or given away. Treasonous fuck needs no-knock FBI raid.

[Scruffy1]

25. Nothing will come of this.

The FG will just claim he had no knowledge of it and the "help" made a mistake. To make a case someone would have to rat him out.
Besides, we already know how chickenshit the DOJ is when it comes to prosecuting political big wheels if they are Republicans. Hell the R in office killed more than million and threw several trillion down the drain for a campaign stunt.