Trump continues to muddy the waters on Mar-a-Lago documents

Former President Donald Trump told a federal appeals court that it should not lift the hold a lower court judge put on the Justice Department using Mar-a-Lago documents identified as classified in its criminal probe — and continued to try to cast doubt on whether the 100 or so documents that are at the center of the dispute are in fact classified. The latest filing from Trump emphasized the authority a president has to declassify records and leaned into the idea that the documents' classification status at this point should be viewed as ambiguous. #CNN #News

57 comments

  1. What are we talking about here…it doesn’t matter if the documents are classified or not…THEY DO NOT BELONG TO trump, PERIOD!

    1. @2dronetek2 I bet he did. There is a part of Trump that tries to be respectable. and knowledgeable. He probably took the advice of one of his lawyers or friends that this guy was a great judge and didn’t really understand what that means to him. He probably and genuinely doesn’t understand how criminal he is, narcissism being the reason.

  2. Watching intelligent, articulate news folks cover DJT’s ongoing bonehead activities is like watching Olympic Gold Medalists discuss a mud wrestling competition. It’s undignified and quite difficult to do with a straight face.

    1. @Zynathera it’s ironic that you folks are still taking the media and Democrat’s word on ANYTHING. Me, I’ll just sit back and watch the snowflakes melt when this investigation goes nowhere too. ✌️😏

    2. @Randy Renner why on earth would I take the medias word on anything. Especially when the various court fillings are publicly available and you can simply read them. For instance trump lawyers refusing to claim under oath that he declassified anything.

    3. @Randy Renner I don’t know about China being threat. I’m also curious why Biden is taking Taiwans side if he’s working with China? I also don’t know why you think Biden having lunch (well he was a private citizen) with someone is so much worse the Trump meeting with Putin with no other US people present? Also trying to figure out why Hunter working for Burisma is such an issue but the trump organisation trying to negotiate a high rise in Russia isn’t (or Ivanka s patents in China for that matter).

      Here’s the thing – there’s these places called “not the US”. And, you may be surprised to learn, they have news reporting as well. And some people actually take the time to read up on things.

  3. No, John King. It is NOT complicated!! My God…. They are classified docs and belong in a secure facility!! What is complicated about that very simple fact?

  4. It is always with this man and his helpers – We need more time. Deny deny deny, delay delay delay and in the meantime get so much news out – fake or not that that makes everyone totally confused😩

  5. So a bank robber robs a bank and has a stash of currency, promissory notes, mortgages and a variety of valuables entrusted to it. Authorities identify the robber and police raid the robber’s place, retrieving most of the stolen goods, but the robber’s lawyer says, “Wait– you can’t charge my client with anything until and unless you identify any piece of currency by denomination and serial number and when it was placed in the vault.” The police say, “Wait a minute. We could have arrested this guy immediately after we discovered this.” The lawyer says, “Too bad. It’s now in my hands and I’m here to do what Jim Jordan would have done on the Jan. 6 commission.”

    1. @Frank Davidson Bottom line: If he had been arrested on the spot, none of this B.S. with the attorneys would be taking place and he would be doing what he could to justify being let out of jail rather than pussyfooting around while documents could be under going evaluation to see what was lost, destroyed or somehow misused.

  6. “You’re not allowed to look at these documents.” “Also, you can’t prove they were even classified documents. Ah! No, no, you can’t look at them, you can’t see them at all. Now prove they’re even classified, but you’re not allowed to look.”

    I never understood why anyone being charged or investigated gets to decide what evidence the investigators are allowed to see. UH GEE, WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY’RE GONNA DO? Dhuurrr….

    1. Once your indicted you get to see the evidence against you. Then you can file to throw out evidence under certain circumstances. You don’t get to throw things out be fore charges.

    2. theres ways to prove if the documents were declassified without having the documents themselves. there’d be records of the declassification process to look into

  7. Let’s say he magically declassified some or all the documents, they still don’t belong to him and he shouldn’t have them, there’s no defense there.

    1. I think it’s best if those documents are no longer classified.

      Surely MBS and Putin and Kim Jong Un have already seen them. If they’re declassified, maybe then US Citizens FOIA them without paying fees to Trump.

  8. If he is claiming that (1) something which, if made known, would be extremely harmful to the national interest was indeed made known, and (2) claiming that _he_ was the one to make it known, well then, (3) he self-owns as an _intentional_ traitor who should be punished to the maximum extent of the law. Nice move, Trumpie boy. Guess you wised up that you can’t make the claim, and now have to dance. Dance, boy, dance.

  9. The “Riot ” when viewed was indistinguishable from a regular tour visit of the Whitehouse……..remember that statement….It is similar to Trumps lawyers argument in that it relies on the moment in time fallacy. In the middle of every video crime there are present captured frames for which a lie could be supported as true……for example , just before the criminal pulls a gun, his hands were in a normal position indistinguishable from normal behavior. Thats how we got the tourist comment from the crooked republican senator Clyde. Here Trump is stating that (simply while the stay is in place , no one can assert the classification STATUS of the classified documents) forcing deferral to a 3rd party. The problem is that when the Judge asks for the “Whole Truth” , Trumps crimes will be revealed. Currently the crooked Judge Cannon has subdivided the actual evidence of the crime and severely limited the DOJ’s use of the material.

  10. I so love that the judge is getting right to the point of whether the documents are classified or not. Also, that he wants to have weekly briefings/meetings.

  11. I feel like if he had went through the process of declassifying the documents, the administration would have already been able to present evidence of that, but it’s irrelevant at this point.
    Just put on the extra small cuffs and let’s stop the theatrics. It’s so embarrassing that the world is watching us go around and around like this.

    1. Lol all you need is a few tiny wire zip straps. The guy can’t even lift a glass of water with out using both arms.

  12. 03:30
    “This is not complicated. The documents belong to the government. Whether they’re classified or not is not pertinent…”
    “Stay with us. This is complicated…”
    smh

  13. Can someone explain to me how the executive office that (I assume?) oversees the application of written and institutionalized law, the permitted actions of our legal authorites, professionals, and courts – the DOJ – has to answer or comply with a lower court that is transgressing the rule of law, or abusing their authority by making a ruling that it doesn’t have the right to make? Government documents can’t belong to an individual for their own use, classified or not. They can’t be simply taken and kept for their own use, can they? No.

    1. By the way just so you know, any president can declassify anything, at any time and while he was inoffice Trump stated that had declassified everything

    2. @wa hoo
      Then all he needs to do is prove it. He declassified docs before, and it was memorialized either in an executive order or in a memo. He just needs to have someone draft the EO/memo and he signs it.

      He can’t just declassify the copy he’s got in his hands. All copies across different paper and electronic formats need to be declassified and marked as such.

      But really – he didn’t declassify these. He didn’t need to when he was POTUS because he wasn’t going to get in trouble for sloppy handling while in office. But now that he’s just a civilian, all of that evaporated.

    3. @wa hoo you are incorrect their is a certified process to declassify documents and a paper trail in doing so. If a department of the federal government classifies a document and the president has a copy of that document, he has to physically sign off on that as declassified and return that notice to the department that issued it. If that wasn’t done it’s not declassified. The next step the DOJ will do is take the documents marked classified and go back to the originating department to see if they have a record of Trump declassifying them. Rest assured Trump declassified nothing period.He will be indicted on at least 3 possibly more criminal charges. for once the con man grifter may finally be held accountable for his criminal activity. Make no mistake Donald Trump is a criminal, and should serve prison time.

  14. TFG isn’t arguing he took the documents.He inadvertently admitted that the FBI hadn’t planted them at his country club. His only argument is that he declassified them but, has no proof( even if he said he did he still needs to show that proof.A documented witness ,a stenographer, an email ,a paper trail, an sms, anything,anything at all would do but is now refusing to provide that).The documents are not his property.They are the DOJ’s property,(Cannon ruled that the DOJ cannot view their own property?Which is an absolute travesty of justice).The documents in question contain the most sensitive and crucial information regarding the safety and security of the nation and must never be removed from the highest standard of security, under ANY circumstances.They were at his country club. It’s potentially the most serious breach of national security in living memory and should be causing an absolute tsunami of alarm but the GOP and the cult(two entities entirely indistinguishable from each other)are cheerleading this unforgivable act of treason. History will not be kind to trump.

    1. His lawyers won’t even claim he declassified them in court…none of what you wrote is even applicable until he does that. If they continue to refuse, Dearie is going to just consider them classified and proceed.

  15. usually when a classified document is de-classified, it gets a stamp or seal on it stating that it is de-classified. no stamps on any of the mar-a-lago documents.

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