We joke, but that’s one power a sitting president actually does have. Because the classification system was originally implemented by a president and not by congress, it is functionally maintained at-will by the president. That’s why presidents don’t need a security clearance.
Once that president is out of office, unauthorized possession of classified material is a crime. Depending on the severity of the situation, the amount and nature of the material and the degree of classification, how it’s handled (stored and transported), the deliberateness with which possession is maintained, whether or not unauthorized persons are given access to it, and how the person responds when it comes to their knowledge that they’re still in possession of classified material, the crime could be a felony up to and including espionage and treason.
Which is what magats don’t get when they point to an empty folder with classified markings that Biden found in an empty drawer in his office from his time as VP, and immediately reported it through the proper channels and turned it in, and they say “see! both sides are the same! it’s a political witch hunt!”
While trump knowingly and willingly loaded boxes of classified material onto a plane and transported it to his mansion in Florida in the time between losing an election and leaving office, where he stored those boxes in a bathroom even after leaving office (and thus no longer having authorization to possess the material), where he entertained guests including foreign emissaries and businessmen, who gave him lucrative gifts through proxies such as his family members, and were likely given access to that material stored in his bathroom.
The president can declassify stuff with his mind
You’ve got a good point. Such an amazing ability that the President has.
We joke, but that’s one power a sitting president actually does have. Because the classification system was originally implemented by a president and not by congress, it is functionally maintained at-will by the president. That’s why presidents don’t need a security clearance.
Once that president is out of office, unauthorized possession of classified material is a crime. Depending on the severity of the situation, the amount and nature of the material and the degree of classification, how it’s handled (stored and transported), the deliberateness with which possession is maintained, whether or not unauthorized persons are given access to it, and how the person responds when it comes to their knowledge that they’re still in possession of classified material, the crime could be a felony up to and including espionage and treason.
Which is what magats don’t get when they point to an empty folder with classified markings that Biden found in an empty drawer in his office from his time as VP, and immediately reported it through the proper channels and turned it in, and they say “see! both sides are the same! it’s a political witch hunt!”
While trump knowingly and willingly loaded boxes of classified material onto a plane and transported it to his mansion in Florida in the time between losing an election and leaving office, where he stored those boxes in a bathroom even after leaving office (and thus no longer having authorization to possess the material), where he entertained guests including foreign emissaries and businessmen, who gave him lucrative gifts through proxies such as his family members, and were likely given access to that material stored in his bathroom.
Yeah, not the same thing at all.
No one has abilities like this. You’ve never seen. They’re saying, many of them, and it’s been very badly reported.