Trump's DOJ won a 2018 case that undermines claims about his broad declassification powers

[TheBlackAdder]

.

The case in question involved a New York Times request for documents relating to covert operations in Syria that Trump had revealed in a tweet by criticizing "massive, dangerous, and wasteful payments to Syrian rebels" made by the United States government.

By talking about the matter publicly, argued the New York Times, Trump had in essence declassified the existence of the program, which would then make documents about it available to reporters through requests via the Freedom of Information Act.

The Trump DOJ pushed back on this, however, and successfully argued that mere presidential proclamations are insufficient to formally declassify documents.


https://www.rawstory.com/trump-declassification/

This guy keeps shooting himself in the foot.

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[Bayard]

1. See this thread:

https://democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1016&pid=329218

[Ocelot II]

2. Oops.

[TheRealNorth]

3. I made this point last week....

If he declassified these documents, someone in the national archives I would presume would have to be notified so that they could be made available via a FOIA. And if they haven't been shared with the National Archives, I suspect that would be breaking another law.

[TeamProg]

4. Interesting! Thanks for posting. nt

[LiberalFighter]

5. And he doesn't even know how to shoot.

[gratuitous]

6. No problem

Under the legal doctrine of "that was then, this is now," the former guy can alter reality and precedent at whim, even a year and a half after being turned out of office. It's like having the Reality Stone (Avengers movies reference).

[progressoid]

7. Bwaaaaahahahahahaha!