Trump's classified Mar-a-Lago documents, catalogued

[brooklynite]

Washington Post

When FBI agents arrived at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort a month ago, they should not have found any documents marked classified.

This isn’t simply an observation about the behavior of former presidents and the extent to which Trump appears to have flouted rules governing the retention of documents. It is, instead, a legal observation: The federal government had subpoenaed any material with classification markings (regardless of whether that material was still classified) and a Trump attorney reportedly claimed that all such documents had been turned over. So when the FBI agents walked through the gates of Mar-a-Lago, they should have come away empty-handed.

They did not. Instead, they discovered about 100 documents bearing classification markings, along with scores of empty folders intended for classified material. And at least one of the documents they recovered, The Washington Post reported Tuesday, addressed a foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities.

All of this is confusing to a layperson. So in the interest of clarifying what was sought and what was obtained, we’ve walked through the government’s documentation of the subpoena and the search to detail what the FBI was seeking — and what it found.

[Blueplanet]

1. Thank You!

[usonian]

2. If any other citizen had possession of those off their proper site and locked containers,

we would be in jail. Period. No foolin around. No bail. Everything seized and searched. Every relative and associate questioned.

This may be the largest espionage leak in history, and there are plenty of charges not even relying on the classification of documents.

Former Fox News favorite Andrew Napolitano: Trump 'will soon be indicted ... for three crimes'

https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/1/2120233/-Former-Fox-News-favorite-Andrew-Napolitano-Trump-will-soon-be-indicted-for-three-crimes

As Napolitano further explains, it simply doesn’t matter whether the documents Trump squirreled away were classified, “as it is simply and always criminal to have NDI in a non-federal facility, to have those without security clearances move it from one place to another, and to keep it from the feds when they are seeking it.” So “declassifying” those materials is simply a tawdry parlor trick, much like Trump’s original oath of office. Worse, his feckless fucknuttery led him right into the FBI’s trap:

Yet, misreading and underestimating the feds, Mr. Trump actually did them a favor. One of the elements that they must prove for any of the three crimes is that Mr. Trump knew that he had the documents. The favor he did was admit to that when he boasted that they were no longer classified. He committed a mortal sin in the criminal defense world by denying something for which he had not been accused.

Of course, this isn’t a garden-variety Trump grift, like running a scam university or becoming president so he can steal my kidneys while I hibernate. The charges against Trump will likely be for the same crimes allegedly committed by former NSA employee Edward Snowden and Wikileaks’ Julian Assange, and as Napolitano points out, Trump argued that both should be executed.

[crickets]

4. The graphics really drive the point home.

tfg had a metric buttload of documents he should not have had, and went to a lot of trouble to hide it.

WaPo no paywall: https://archive.ph/omwcf

[scipan]

6. Thank you. BTW, for anyone trying to read the fine print

NF = NOFORN = no foreign country can see it
OC = ORCON = originator controlled

TK = TALENT KEYHOLE = satellite data

Things I have learned in the last couple of weeks.


Edit: the explanations are also in the article. I got Talent Keyhole wrong.

[Sogo]

5. That's a great graphic.

[essaynnc]

7. Any clue.. .

How many still contained docs, and how many were empty? I don't think he'd go to jail for lots of empty folders, although those might still be considered property of the US government.....

[FakeNoose]

8. None of this is HIS property - he has no right to ANY of it

What about all the files he has give away and sold?