American Greatness By Adam Mill 8/29/2022
The FBI would do well to remember it has no constitutional authority except what it borrows from the elected president.-----
So let’s now turn to the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago raid. According to the newly released and heavily redacted affidavit, the Justice Department justified using the extremely intrusive search to recover “classified” information. The Justice Department told the warrant-issuing judge, “The government is conducting a criminal investigation concerning the improper removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized spaces, as well as unlawful concealment or removal of government records.”
So how did Trump obtain these documents? Did he sneak back into the White House after Biden took the oath of office? Did disgruntled Biden employees smuggle the documents down to Mar-a-Lago? The affidavit indicates that, “Boxes Containing Documents Were Transported from the White House to Mar-a-Lago.” The affidavit fixes this date at January 18, 2021 when, “at least two moving trucks were observed at the PREMISES,” presumably delivering the “classified documents.”
There’s just one giant problem for the FBI. Biden did not assume office until two days later. When those trucks arrived at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump was still president. The decision to repose classified documents in Mar-a-Lago was a presidential decision. Joe Biden might not have agreed with Trump’s decision keep these records after leaving office. But this situation is no different than Trump’s decision to share intelligence with the Russians. He made an executive decision to repose classified documents in his personal residence.
Like the Russians, Trump received the documents from a president—himself. He did not break the law by receiving them. He does not break the law by continuing to possess them. As the Wall Street Journal has noted, the president’s constitutional authority over classified documents trumps any statute purporting to make his continued possession of these documents illegal. All Trump needs to argue is that when he shipped the documents to Mar-a-Lago, he intended to modify the classifications so he could keep them after he left office. Does anyone think he shipped them to Mar-a-Lago without the intention of keeping them? No, of course not.
The get-Trump figures have argued that Trump lacked the authority to convert these documents into his own property because they were the property of the U.S. government. But that is a matter of civil adjudication, not a crime. And it has nothing to do with Trump’s power to modify the classified nature of these documents consistent with his post-presidency status. If Trump took the documents with the intent to keep them, it’s absurd to argue that, while still president, he did not intend to modify the classified nature of the documents consistent with that intent.
More:
https://amgreatness.com/2022/08/29/one-giant-problem-with-the-fbis-mar-a-lago-raid/
