Documents and folders
Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2022 12:56 am
What we have with Donald Trump is a failure to communicate--as in communicate with the government that he has classified documents. Gotta hand it to the dems on this one--J6/insurrection hearings pt1, then stolen documents, then J6 pt. 2 and you know pt. 2 is going to drop some bombshells all leading up to the elections. Good timing.
The tide is turning for the dems in the polls. It looked like a slam-dunk for the republicans at one time but now the public is warming up to Biden. But much of the reason the tide is turning is because of the conservatives/republicans themselves. I refer to the overturning of Roe v. Wade by SCOTUS. What kind of stupid move was that? You would think they would have the sense to wait until after the election before springing that one on everybody. They really thought that this was going to be a popular move?
I thought as soon as I read it that they just screwed themselves. I know a few anti-abortion people and they want exceptions. This "no exceptions" garbage is just not popular. I think many anti-abortion conservatives were a bit put off by SCOTUS taking it upon themselves to unilaterally end Roe v. Wade. Congress? Sure. The President? Yeah, okay. The Supreme Court though? Whose rights will they decide to take away next? And what's to stop a future liberal court from neutralizing the 2nd Amendment? This is NOT how it should be done! Now, conservative candidates are deleting their views on abortion from their websites. They howled and hollered for Roe v. Wade to be overturned at any and all costs, finally got it, and now can't distance themselves from it fast enough.
The dems have picked their fights well as far as proceedings against Trump. The document thing is definitely the way to go. It completely shuts up the "LOCK HER UP!" crowd. The chant now gets caught in their throats. They were also wise not to specify in the warrant for a search of Trump's buildings that they were looking for classified documents. They simply say the documents Trump was supposed to have turned over to NARA. So, all this whining that Trump declassified them doesn't even matter because even if he could declassify the documents that way doesn't mean they were his to keep. They still belong in the National Archives regardless.
But declassification doesn't work the way Trump's supporters apparently think it does. He can't wave his hand over a carton of documents and say, "I declassify you" and now they are declassified. There is an official process that must be followed or the act of declassification is not official. Each of these documents will be of intense interest to some department or other and to specific individuals within those departments. Money has been allocated to these departments for the care and protection of these documents. If Trump wanted to declassify them, he would need to talk to the heads of those departments and the individuals who deal closely with those documents and their contents. Declassification would be debated thoroughly to make sure that declassification is in order. Then the classification stamps at the top and bottom of each page (both sides) must be marked up in a specific way to indicate that this classification was changed or deleted. Trump did none of this.
All classified documents in the U.S. government are meticulously tracked 24/7. The department responsible for their safekeeping must be able to account for their classified documents at ALL times. Folders containing classified documents that are removed from their holding area have to be logged out at a certain time by a certain person who must have the proper clearance. When that person is done, she returns the folder and logs it back in and the time is noted. The logs will account for every second of a document's whereabouts at any given time, i.e. a chain of custody. National Security is compromised if the current whereabouts of a document is unknown.
So, a slew of documents was turned over from Trump's people to NARA. One of Trump's lawyers, Christina Bobb, officially verified with her signature that all documents requested had been turned over. When NARA went through them, however, they could not help but notice a great many files were missing. When the FBI went to the locations mentioned in the warrant, they found twice the amount of documents that Bobb had given them piled up on the floor in the office of Donald Trump. Among the pile were over 40 empty folders, some of which were marked Top Secret.
Now, these empty folders...were they empty when Trump's people took them? If yes, why then did they grab them? And where are the materials they once held? If no, then what happened to those materials after the folders arrived in Trump's office? Some of Trump's defenders are saying that these empty folders were hastily grabbed by various people as they were leaving the White House after losing the election. Okay, let's say that this is correct. It shoots a hole through the idea that Trump declassified them. They would have had a list of those documents and matched the folders to it. But grabbing everything and stuffing it into moving boxes headed for Florida is just stealing.
It's pretty hard to say that Trump didn't know about this. They were in his office. Three documents were found in the desks. There are apparently two desks in the office and between them, they found three classified documents. Donald Trump sits at one of those desks. So, how could he not know?
The real question is, though, why did Trump take all that stuff? Why? Regardless of its security classification, what was his attraction to these documents? We know he was tickled pink about the stuff he knew about Macron in France, He bragged a bit about it. So perhaps he was taking stuff that he could use as blackmail against foreign leaders. Perhaps but a lot of this material was marked top secret. There had to be some very sensitive stuff in those folders. And we don't know who else has seen them!
Now, remember when I stated earlier that classified documents have to be tracked 24/7 in a continuous chain of custody to prevent compromising national security, look what has happened here: Trump took secret documents of the U.S. government to his office in Florida. By the time the government took them back over a year later, we do not know how many, if any, foreign agents may have combed through them. They could have copied them and left the originals behind. We don't know. The chain of custody is broken and national security is compromised.
Then consider the empty folders. Are the documents they once contained still in Washington somewhere relatively safe and sound or were the contents of the folders emptied after arriving in Florida? Where are any of these documents right now? No one knows. HUGE disruption of the chain of custody.
Basically, we have to consider that ALL of this material stolen by Donald Trump--and he did steal it--has been compromised, That's what happens when you lose that chain of custody. You now have to conclude that some foreign power or agency somewhere knows the contents of those documents. It will cost untold billions to plug up all the holes Trump has potentially drilled for us and will take many years.
Also, Christina Bobb is in a world of shit. Since she signed the statement that all documents had been turned over, she is officially the one who took responsibility for the statement and will have to answer for it. As far as the govt is concerned, she kept all those documents and folders not Trump. She will be the one they charge and prosecute.
Will another close to Trump cut a deal and flip?
The tide is turning for the dems in the polls. It looked like a slam-dunk for the republicans at one time but now the public is warming up to Biden. But much of the reason the tide is turning is because of the conservatives/republicans themselves. I refer to the overturning of Roe v. Wade by SCOTUS. What kind of stupid move was that? You would think they would have the sense to wait until after the election before springing that one on everybody. They really thought that this was going to be a popular move?
I thought as soon as I read it that they just screwed themselves. I know a few anti-abortion people and they want exceptions. This "no exceptions" garbage is just not popular. I think many anti-abortion conservatives were a bit put off by SCOTUS taking it upon themselves to unilaterally end Roe v. Wade. Congress? Sure. The President? Yeah, okay. The Supreme Court though? Whose rights will they decide to take away next? And what's to stop a future liberal court from neutralizing the 2nd Amendment? This is NOT how it should be done! Now, conservative candidates are deleting their views on abortion from their websites. They howled and hollered for Roe v. Wade to be overturned at any and all costs, finally got it, and now can't distance themselves from it fast enough.
The dems have picked their fights well as far as proceedings against Trump. The document thing is definitely the way to go. It completely shuts up the "LOCK HER UP!" crowd. The chant now gets caught in their throats. They were also wise not to specify in the warrant for a search of Trump's buildings that they were looking for classified documents. They simply say the documents Trump was supposed to have turned over to NARA. So, all this whining that Trump declassified them doesn't even matter because even if he could declassify the documents that way doesn't mean they were his to keep. They still belong in the National Archives regardless.
But declassification doesn't work the way Trump's supporters apparently think it does. He can't wave his hand over a carton of documents and say, "I declassify you" and now they are declassified. There is an official process that must be followed or the act of declassification is not official. Each of these documents will be of intense interest to some department or other and to specific individuals within those departments. Money has been allocated to these departments for the care and protection of these documents. If Trump wanted to declassify them, he would need to talk to the heads of those departments and the individuals who deal closely with those documents and their contents. Declassification would be debated thoroughly to make sure that declassification is in order. Then the classification stamps at the top and bottom of each page (both sides) must be marked up in a specific way to indicate that this classification was changed or deleted. Trump did none of this.
All classified documents in the U.S. government are meticulously tracked 24/7. The department responsible for their safekeeping must be able to account for their classified documents at ALL times. Folders containing classified documents that are removed from their holding area have to be logged out at a certain time by a certain person who must have the proper clearance. When that person is done, she returns the folder and logs it back in and the time is noted. The logs will account for every second of a document's whereabouts at any given time, i.e. a chain of custody. National Security is compromised if the current whereabouts of a document is unknown.
So, a slew of documents was turned over from Trump's people to NARA. One of Trump's lawyers, Christina Bobb, officially verified with her signature that all documents requested had been turned over. When NARA went through them, however, they could not help but notice a great many files were missing. When the FBI went to the locations mentioned in the warrant, they found twice the amount of documents that Bobb had given them piled up on the floor in the office of Donald Trump. Among the pile were over 40 empty folders, some of which were marked Top Secret.
Now, these empty folders...were they empty when Trump's people took them? If yes, why then did they grab them? And where are the materials they once held? If no, then what happened to those materials after the folders arrived in Trump's office? Some of Trump's defenders are saying that these empty folders were hastily grabbed by various people as they were leaving the White House after losing the election. Okay, let's say that this is correct. It shoots a hole through the idea that Trump declassified them. They would have had a list of those documents and matched the folders to it. But grabbing everything and stuffing it into moving boxes headed for Florida is just stealing.
It's pretty hard to say that Trump didn't know about this. They were in his office. Three documents were found in the desks. There are apparently two desks in the office and between them, they found three classified documents. Donald Trump sits at one of those desks. So, how could he not know?
The real question is, though, why did Trump take all that stuff? Why? Regardless of its security classification, what was his attraction to these documents? We know he was tickled pink about the stuff he knew about Macron in France, He bragged a bit about it. So perhaps he was taking stuff that he could use as blackmail against foreign leaders. Perhaps but a lot of this material was marked top secret. There had to be some very sensitive stuff in those folders. And we don't know who else has seen them!
Now, remember when I stated earlier that classified documents have to be tracked 24/7 in a continuous chain of custody to prevent compromising national security, look what has happened here: Trump took secret documents of the U.S. government to his office in Florida. By the time the government took them back over a year later, we do not know how many, if any, foreign agents may have combed through them. They could have copied them and left the originals behind. We don't know. The chain of custody is broken and national security is compromised.
Then consider the empty folders. Are the documents they once contained still in Washington somewhere relatively safe and sound or were the contents of the folders emptied after arriving in Florida? Where are any of these documents right now? No one knows. HUGE disruption of the chain of custody.
Basically, we have to consider that ALL of this material stolen by Donald Trump--and he did steal it--has been compromised, That's what happens when you lose that chain of custody. You now have to conclude that some foreign power or agency somewhere knows the contents of those documents. It will cost untold billions to plug up all the holes Trump has potentially drilled for us and will take many years.
Also, Christina Bobb is in a world of shit. Since she signed the statement that all documents had been turned over, she is officially the one who took responsibility for the statement and will have to answer for it. As far as the govt is concerned, she kept all those documents and folders not Trump. She will be the one they charge and prosecute.
Will another close to Trump cut a deal and flip?