https://archive.ph/5QsUv - WSJ
FBI Recovered Eleven Sets of Classified Documents in Trump Search, Inventory Shows
Trump allies claim the former president declassified the documents recovered from Mar-a-LagoFBI agents who searched former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home Monday removed 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked as top secret and meant to be only available in special government facilities, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation agents took around 20 boxes of items, binders of photos, a handwritten note and the executive grant of clemency for Mr. Trump's ally Roger Stone, a list of items removed from the property shows. Also included in the list was information about the "President of France," according to the three-page list. The list is contained in a seven-page document that also includes the warrant to search the premises which was granted by a federal magistrate judge in Florida.
Trump's allies are claiming that, of course, Trump declassified these before bringing them with him to Mar-a-Lago.
However, not even the president can declassify nuclear secrets:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/trump-fbi-raid-classified-nuclear-documents/671119/OTOH:
"There is no approval process for the president of the United States to declassify intelligence. There is this phony idea that he must provide notification for declassification but that's just silly. Who is he supposed to notify? I think it's the height of swampism to think the president should seek bureaucrats' approval," Grenell told NBC News, emphasizing that he wasn't personally speaking for the president.
This is absurd. (a) The notification would go to whichever agency oversees said documents. (b) There
is a process in place, even though it seems hard to imagine King Trump ever following such a thing.
Richard Immerman, a historian and an assistant deputy director of national intelligence in the Obama administration, disagreed and said that, while the president has the authority to declassify documents, there's a formal process for doing so, and there's no indication Trump used it.
"He can't just wave a wand and say it's declassified," Immerman said. "There has to be a formal process. That's the only way the system can work," because otherwise there would be no way of knowing who could handle or see the documents.
"I've seen thousands of declassified documents. They're all marked 'declassified' with the date they were declassified," Immerman said.
That does not appear to have been the case with some of the documents that were returned to the National Archives from Mar-a-Lago this year. Archivist David S. Ferriero, an Obama appointee, said in a letter to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform in February that his agency had "identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes" from Mar-a-Lago.
Yet again, a Trump ally had a comeback:
Kash Patel, a Pentagon chief of staff during the Trump administration, told Breitbart News in May that the documents previously recovered from Mar-a-Lago had been declassified by Trump, but their markings were not updated. "Trump declassified whole sets of materials in anticipation of leaving government that he thought the American public should have the right to read themselves," Patel said then.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-allies-say-declassified-mar-lago-documents-experts-say-unclear-w-rcna42311Kash Patel? Why does that name ring a bell?
Oh, right!
The United States Department of Defense and the US Army's court filings show that some senior Trump administration members, including former Pentagon official and longtime House Intelligence Committee aide Kashyap 'Kash' Patel, had the text messages from their phones deleted. These deleted messages could show the happenings prior to and leading up to the Jan. 6 attacks on the US Capitol.
On 2 Aug, 2022, the Department of Defense lawyers confirmed that "tied to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by American Oversight, a government watchdog group" has been seeking Jan. 6-related phone records from officials including Patel, acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, and former Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy, according to a report by Bloomberg.
According to the court filings, these three officials were instrumental in getting a better understanding of the government's response to the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill attacks in addition to former US President Donald Trump's response to the unfolding of the riots.
https://www.thequint.com/news/world/indian-american-kash-patel-among-trumps-team-members-whose-phone-records-related-to-jan-6-us-capitol-riots-were-deletedKash Patel also denied that Trump delayed or had any hesitance about the National Guard being called in.
How convenient that he deleted his texts - again, in violation of the National Records Act.
Why on Earth would anybody consider his opinion on materials Trump kept to be honest or authoritative?!?
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