2y ago

Trump: ‘I’m Allowed to Do Whatever I Want’ With Classified Info

www.rollingstone.com

Trump: 'I'm Allowed to Do Whatever I Want' With Classified Info

DONALD TRUMP SAID he “absolutely” plans to testify in the federal government’s case against him regarding classified documents he removed from the White House. “I’m allowed to do whatever I want … I’m allowed to do everything I did,” the former president told conservative podcast host Hugh Hewitt.

In an interview on “The Hugh Hewitt Show” that dropped Wednesday, the host asked Trump, “Did you direct anyone to move the boxes, Mr. President? Did you tell anyone to move the boxes?” referring to the boxes of more than 300 classified documents the federal government seized last year from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

“I don’t talk about anything. You know why? Because I’m allowed to do whatever I want. I come under the Presidential Records Act,” Trump replied, while also taking a quick detour to bash Hewitt. “I’m not telling you. You know, every time I talk to you, ‘Oh, I have a breaking story.’ You don’t have any story. I come under the Presidential Records Act. I’m allowed to do everything I did.”

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trashhalo @beehaw.org

2y ago

Trump: 'I'm Allowed to Do Whatever I Want' With Classified Info

www.rollingstone.com /politics/politics-news/trump-testify-classified-docs-case-1234819404/

181 comments

Will be super interesting to see him try that under oath...
- "OBJECTION YOUR HONOR. My client is a moron and just incriminated himself."
  
  "Your honor, I object!"
  "And why is that?"
  "Because it's devastating to my case!"
  https://youtu.be/Dx32b5igLwA
  
  His lawyers actually said that while he was president. They said he was incapable of being deposed without perjuring himself. Eventually they sent 10 questions written out and he had his lawyers with him to help respond.
- I cannot imagine the guy speaking a single word in court.
  
  I can def see a man-child reaction exactly like this dumb statement -kinda like what he did on the debates with Hillary and Biden, interrupting and interjecting his sad alternate reality- as the cases pick up steam and hes forced to fly between Fla, DC, Ga and wherever his current cult rally/grievance is that day, oh boy, is it gonna be fun or what?
  
  I could see him yelling and screaming as they take him away.
  https://youtu.be/sA0glbG6c-8#t=48s
  
  I can.
  And it almost is a replacement for PornHub.
- It would make for a much shorter trial, at least. Basically just a guilty plea with extra steps.
- It seems like he is showing what his defense will be. It won't be whether he moved documents or shared confidential information or whatever. It will be them challenging the scope of power of the presidency.
  
  The defense comes down to the Afluenza Defense. Note, to my knowledge that never really worked before.
  He keeps repeating he thinks he's allowed to do all these things and even when found in court he isn't allowed to do those things, they'll try to say he didn't know.
  Thing is, he's playing dumb now, while he's repeatedly shown he knows full well what's right and what's wrong, his statements like how he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and no one would do anything about it, or the grab em by the pussy line.
  He made statements showing he knows perfectly fine these are things one shouldn't do, but he does them anyway as he was never held responsible and could get away with it.
  
  Not really the scope of power so much as destroying Trump's delusional interpretation of the Presidential Record's Act.
  If he honestly tries that in court he's going to get "Um, actually" lawyer-splained so fast BARRON'S kid's heads will spin.
I like a petulant Trump. Means he's worried.
- He's always been petulant though.
  
  Which makes sense given his constant state of anxiety about whatever demographic, real or imagined, is supposedly after him for no good reason next.
He can in fact do whatever he wants, he just needs to deal with the consequences of his actions.
- I don't see proof of that last part for the moment, hopefully it will become true
  
  Well, technically, no consequences are some kind of consequences. But I really do hope that he will pay for what he did wrong.
Candidate Trump needs to be belligerent and defiant. Defendant Trump needs to STFU.
The problem is those two things are in competition. So he has to say, Russia, Russia, Russia as candidate Trump, but that isn't a relevant or useful argument for defendant Trump. He has to say, "I'm allowed to do this thing" as candidate Trump, but as defendant Trump, I'm allowed to break the law is not a defense.
His only hope is to delay. If he goes to trial on anything, defendant Trump loses. If he can hold out, then candidate Trump will win.
This is his bet. He wins and it all goes away and the US is ruled by a guy who believes he can get away with anything.
- Maybe we get lucky and he has a cheeseburger embolism between now and then and then Walter Reed docs just choose to try a little less hard that day.
If I was a Republican, and I fancied myself a man of wit, accountability, and maturity, I would not be able to reconcile my politics against just how absurdly juvenile, idiotic, and whiny Trump is at all times.
- Yes, but what if they make you hate the others more than this mob?
  That, and "eh, they're all the same", and when you need to support the team no matter what - can lull your critical faculties quite well.
This attitude is terrifying to people who handle national security information. Just because you might have authority to declassify something doesn't mean you should. It's reckless and irresponsible to expose sources and methods unnecessarily - not to mention the information itself. There's a reason that declassified documents still have a lot of redactions.
This type of stuff is usually in a very controlled environment with significant physical security - not a bathroom.
Holy shit I hate this man so much.
No you are not. It is classified for a reason.
American government: ‘No, you’re not.’
You stopped being president nearly four years ago, man. Grow up.
- I truly hate that technically, former presidents can be called Mr. President for the rest of their lives.
  
  I still laugh that donnie Bin Laden and his supporters were outraged that a judge called him "Mr. Trump".
I will die not understanding the allegiance this man has among his followers.
- I think it's at least 90% racism and misogyny and the hope that they will get to unleash their worse selves on others. Hillary was right about them, and my dog, the huffing and puffing her correct statement created among the tone police/"liberal media" and of course his base that is even still having a fauxrage over it...while simultaneously proudly declaring themselves "deplorables" and playing the victim card over it.
He's right until they prove him wrong.
- There's literal audio recording of him acknowledging that he's fully aware he can't do whatever he wants with classified files.
  As usual he's right until he proves himself wrong then claims he's right again.
  
  He's aware that it's illegal, but until there are consequences, whether something is illegal or not means fuck all.
  
  His lies here are for his reprogrammable meatbag base, though. They probably don't even know he contradicted himself in a recording.
he's allowed to do whatever he wants with whatever and whoever he wants whenever he wants or why else is he the king
- Okay.
  Catch is… I- and everyone else- get to do what ever we want to him
  
  tell his Supporters.. you gotta fight them.. they're the ones who want him as King..
- Do they still manufacture torches and pitchforks?
Let the courts sort out his stupidity.
- Can he sit in prison while he awaits his trial?
- My understanding from briefly covering this in law school and reading some technical articles about it over the past year, is that classification falls under congressional powers, and the only reason the executive branch has any say in the matter as to documents is because Congress passed laws delegating some of that authority to the executive branch. In no circumstance under the law, can the president simply state that a document is declassified and make it so because no such exists under the statute.
  The president has authority to initiate the process to declassify any documentwith the exception of nuclear secrets.
  The president could read a classified non-nuclear document publicly, and the subject matter would lose its classification, but not the document itself, until it went through the applicable agency's legal procedure for declassification.
  Trump had not initiated such processes and had not declassified the subject matter publicly while president.
  The entirety of the above statement are irrelevant to two things as far as Trump's crimes: any of Trump's actions after the lawful end of his tenure and nuclear secrets, to which none of the above applies, as Congress delegated classification of nuclear secrets to our nuclear energy regulators.
  Trump also lied repeatedly to the public and law enforcement, and engaged in an open conspiracy to illegally destroy evidence and tamper with witnesses.
  By the time this is over, I won't be surprised if it's revealed he sold nuclear secrets to the Saudis, Russia, or China. Dude had been a foreign agent since the 80's.
  
  Hmm who do I trust? Special counsel with years experience in government or anon who just hand waved his entire case.
  Better go with anon because it would be horrible if anon were right and myself, another anon, would know it.
  
  That's just incorrect.
  If you think the government doesn't want more paperwork and documentation that something is declassified, then you have an inflated view of government efficiency. Not to mention the actual importance of a paper trail and approvals.
  
  This is absolutely not true, but I’ll allow you to try and come up with some example to support your fantastic assertions?
  
  Yeah, no.
  This buffoon would never be able to get cleared for even a generic TS for normal government work. I think our commander in chief should be able to obtain a TS as a requirement to running for office. Then there's Jared...
  
  Having political power doesn't imply you can do whatever you want with it. Abuse of power is a crime.
  
  This has been established through courts before
  Cite a court case that establishes this. I bet you $500 USD you can't.
  
  I was under the impression that it didn't matter whether or not the documents were classified. After a president leaves office all presidential documents need to go to the National Archives. Trump took a bunch of boxes to Mar-a-Lago that should have went to the archives. That's what he did wrong. Doesn't matter if it was a McDonalds lunch order on a napkin or nuclear launch codes. He didn't have the authority to take documents out of the white house. Full stop.
  
  It’s not a strong case and never was.
  Laughable. ETA: You are.
….aT which point his lawyer jumped in and said the the real trump would never say that .. fake fake prank call don’t ever call here again!!
That all sounds to me like he's not trying to defend himself in court, that instead his entire plan is to win the presidency and stay there for life. All of these claims (I can do the thing, it's totally fine believe me) amount to confessions that he did what he's charged with, but are also appeals to his base that the courts are wrong and illegitimate.
- That's basically it, that's his get-out-of-jail-free card (though the Georgia case complicates things somewhat), but he's not the only one that needs for him to be back in office. Russia is also depending on him getting in to help their flailing war effort in Ukraine, because I'm sure one of his first actions will be to suspend whatever aid he can to the Ukrainians. China and other countries would also probably love to see him back in because of how completely stupid and ineffective he is at anything he does, not to mention he's easily bought. America's loss will be alot of other country's gain.
Chances that Donald Trump has read any of the Presidential Records Act, or understands what it is for: 0%
Chances that it says "Former presidents can just keep whatever they want, no biggie, what are you going to do, arrest them?": Also 0%.
He says a lot of shit Guarantee his lawyers won't let that happen.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Donald Trump said he “absolutely” plans to testify in the federal government’s case against him regarding classified documents he removed from the White House.
In an interview on “The Hugh Hewitt Show” that dropped Wednesday, the host asked Trump, “Did you direct anyone to move the boxes, Mr. President?
I come under the Presidential Records Act,” Trump replied, while also taking a quick detour to bash Hewitt.
The law states: “Upon the conclusion of a President’s term of office, or if a President serves consecutive terms upon the conclusion of the last term, the Archivist of the United States shall assume responsibility for the custody, control, and preservation of, and access to, the Presidential records of that President.” There is an allowance for presidents to keep records that are of “a purely private or nonpublic character” and unrelated to presidential duties, but many of the documents Trump was found to possess came from government agencies, such as the C.I.A.
When Hewitt asked Trump if he would testify in his own defense at the trial in the documents case, the former president said, “That, I would do.
In addition to discussing his legal troubles, Hewitt asked Trump for his thoughts on an unrelated topic: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
The original article contains 567 words, the summary contains 208 words. Saved 63%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
oh noes. the manbaby is worried! anyways...
Ah fuck. You just know that when he does soon of main arteries slubbed chockful of hamburger fat that certain people will erect statues of him looking like superman (body included) standing hand in hand with jesus, they will build shirnes and organize trips to go there to pray and worship...
Good grief, I just wish that donnie Bin Laden could just be put in prison and have no access to media, whatsoever.
What a ridiculous and vainglorious so-called "man". So tired of his cult members, too.
That’s true. A president can do whatever he wants , it’s called diplomatic immunity. Every president has it, which is why none of them have ever been tried for a crime before.
- That's not how diplomatic immunity works. It's to protect them in a foreign country while they're there. So a diplomat stationed in France can't be tried by the French authorities. It has nothing to do with being brought up on charges in their home country, and definitely doesn't mean they can do whatever they want.
  
  Explain then why no other presidents ever got charged for any of their many crimes?
- That is very much not what diplomatic immunity is.
  Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law by which certain foreign government officials are not subject to the jurisdiction of local courts and other authorities for both their official and, to a large extent, their personal activities.
  It's to protect diplomats from specific laws within the nations in which they serve (often religious laws).
  
  You’re trying to tell me that no president ever did a little oopsie until trump? That’s patently ridiculous, they must have immunity or else one of them would have got in some kind of trouble. Did Jackson go to jail for doing trail of tears? No? But Trump takes a couple sheets of paper home to read on the toilet and you want to put him in jail? It’s a clear partisan bias.
- The Presidential Records Act requires that all presidential records be transferred into the custody of the National Archives at the end of the administration.
  
  That doesn’t make it a crime to keep a few papers as a souvenir. Biden did the same thing btw he kept souvenir papers in the garage with his cool car. They all do it.
- He doesn't need you to be his lawyer. It's not internet discussions that will prover if someone did anything outside of the law.
  If Trump was just a bit more clever he could have saved himself a lot of trouble by just complying with the request of giving the stuff back.
  
  It’s not possible for a president to do a crime and get in trouble for it, it’s never happened before in the history of presidents!
- dumbest take I've read in a while.

181 comments