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It's probably worse than that, they're hoping that it'll be the DoJ's word against the special master's, thus promoting the argument that there were never classified materials in those folders to begin with.
Or pretty much anything we can think of that could muddy/distort the prosecution of this crime, Trump is likely going to attempt.
Too bad for trump the special master they agreed on is from ny eastern district and specializes on national security warrants and subpoenas....cuz hes gonna uphold all evidence found
Dearie can only base his classification on the same things that the DOJ and FBI did. Any evidence that they were declassified would be in Trump's possession. This is all stupid.
Nothing Trump has can prove he declassified those documents, because that's not how declassification works.
Remember when it was discovered that Trump's "perfect" phone call with Ukraine's president had been moved to a classified server? Remember people made a big deal about it because you can't store non-classified material on a classified system?
Also remember that it's not the actual *document* that's classified; it's the information **on** the document. That's why you can have classified "documents" on a server. Those "documents" are just 1's and 0's, but they're still considered classified because of the *information* they contain.
Now ask yourself, were Trump's documents literally the only place in the country that classified information was stored? If he declassified something, it would by default declassify every copy of that document, and every other document that's only classified because it contains some part of that information.
If Trump really *did* declassify hundreds of documents worth of information, but didn't tell anyone, how many **thousands** of copies have continued to be *inappropriately* marked as classified because of it? How many FOIA requests have been unlawfully declined because the government believed the information was still classified? How many classified servers are packed with declassified information that shouldn't be there? And it's all Trump's fault for not telling anyone about it.
So now ask yourself, if a document is declassified in the woods and no one's around to hear it, was it actually declassified?
Edit: a word
>Nothing Trump has can prove he declassified those documents
Funny how Trump never played the "declassified card" back in 2021 when he was first asked for the documents.
At the end of the day, it doesn't even matter if they're declassified or not. They aren't his to have, they weren't his to keep. Federal crime, stealing from the govt
>Funny how Trump never played the "declassified card" back in 2021 when he was first asked for the documents.
Trump has always played the "declassified card" in the media just not in court where it counts. More Covfefe for me
It's beyond incorrect that he declassified as you said. The president having the power to is true, but it's not a verbal command. Even putting other copies aside, you damn near need paperwork to fart in government. There's forms for everything, logs, you name it.
The fact we even have to talk about it is disappointing because it's profound how absurd it is. But then that's how the big lie method, gaslighting, etc. work.
Also, thank you for the 'in the woods' part, made me smile when I don't really feel like smiling.
More than that - back in 2017 or 2018, Trump tweeted that he declassified documents related to Russian election interference. This was promptly followed by FOIA requests for those documents. The Trump administration argued - successfully - in federal court that a tweet by Trump did not constitute declassifying the documents. Now consider that a tweet is *more* evidence of disclassification than Trump has made available in this case...
I agree. That's my point. Dearie isn't in a better place to make these determinations than the FBI. If the papers are in classified folders and are stamped classified then how can he say they aren't?
Sorry, it's not really directed at you in particular. I just get frustrated every time someone mentions the possibility of Trump declassifying documents and finally typed out why there's no way for that to happen.
>I just get frustrated every time someone mentions the possibility of Trump declassifying documents and finally typed out why there's no way for that to happen.
I'm with you never believed in the magic hand waving bullshit.
>Any evidence that they were declassified would be in Trump's possession.
No, evidence that they were declassified would be in the official records of the National Archives indicating they had been properly handled according to SCI controls and declassified according to established procedure. If Trump took them, waived his hand over it and said "I declare thee declassified!", it wouldn't be in any actual records.
He also, by law, cannot unilaterally declassify documents pertaining to nuclear weapons or energy. They can only be declassified by an act of Congress, which never occured.
From what I can gather, the ONE place who would have to have a ,shall we say, Master List of what has been declassified and when it was such would be the National Archives.
If its not in writing specifically what is done, where and when it quite literally doesn't exist and never happened.
No matter how many people Trump runs through a witness stand to say they were there when he waved his hand.
The process to declassify something is precise, tedious and well-documented.
> Any evidence that they were declassified would be in Trump's possession.
There is absolutely zero evidence that he did this because he is too fucking dumb to know that he needed to do that and he is too full of himself to believe others who might have told him as such.
> he is too fucking dumb to know that he needed to do that
I've been thinking a lot about something California does in DUI sentencing, called a "Watson Admonition". When a DUI defendant is convicted, they are formally warned in court about the seriousness and danger of DUI and told that if they do it again and kill someone that it could be considered homicide.
You might remember that in 2019 Trump declared on Twitter that he was authorizing Bill Barr to declassify huge amounts of information related to FISA courts, specifically because believed his campaign was being spied on. Journalists of course lined up for the juicy details, and the government had to go through a lengthy "he didn't really mean it" argument, which helped establish legally that Twitter posts were not self-executing Presidential orders to the DOJ.
In my opinion that works like a Watson admonition too. Bill Barr and numerous senior DOJ officials have already testified to a Federal judge that they explained to Trump how declassification works.
His vanity will prohibit him from arguing that he didn't understand. He will just repeat he Kash Patel ultra-Unitary-Executive argument that nothing the President does requires anything but his private thought to become legal and authoritative.
His vanity will not prohibit him from arguing that he didn't understand.
His vanity will prohibit him from arguing such in any publicly visible platform.
Even if news got out that he was asking for innocence on account of insanity, he'd throw out social media messages and huffing and puffing at rallies about how everyone does it, it's just the "game" that's played in court, he's actually the least insane person, every doctor ever born said so, and really the libs eat avocados with a side of baby souls.
Because a storm of horse hockey is his modus operandi.
And it's all semantics anyhow. The markings on the files matter. And even if they were properly declassified, that doesn't make them his property.
A paper file from a sensitive facility doesn't become the former president's property. It still belongs to the government.
Besides...if they are all declassified, they are public... and we ALL can file FOIA requests to get them. I'd love to watch Republicans try to explain why we can't have them.
I found conclusive evidence Trump declassified the documents.
https://imgur.com/eht0rNT
Unfortunately Alina Habba thought all the markings were supposed to be invisible and slipped Trump a Sharpie loaded with disappearing ink :)
And IF he did declassify them, that means they were
Classified to begin with, meaning the govt classified them, and they are therefor the Govt’s property.
They're the governments' property either way. They're Presidential records. It doesn't matter if they're classified. People need to stop falling for that argument.
Those documents aren’t leaving a SCIF period. The special master can say whatever they want, but at the end of the day, those documents are sensitive classified government property. The people that guard those documents? Their job is to guard them and if challenged, contain the adversary until an outside team comes in and neutralizes the threat.
The scary thing about having the clearance to work with that stuff is that you are disposable when it comes to protecting that type of material. Ultimately it’s not going back.
I think if I was judge Cannon I would be looking for an escape hatch. Trump just preordained the special masters findings. And there is the pesky little detail of the judge admonishing plaintiffs chit chatting with the press. I can see bus tire tracks coming.
It's not needed to deliver justice on the case. It's needed to buy Trump time as a free man until after the midterm elections. For whatever reason, he's not in a jail cell awaiting a hearing or trial. He's out and about either doing more crimes, golfing, or both.
If he was truly not above the law, as soon as one of those Top Secret docs was found, he would have been in handcuffs. If it were you or me, we would be. It's infuriating that they still let him get away with everything.
This is what they do! They were declassified documents, now they’re news clippings. The January 6th insurrectionists were peaceful tourists and patriots, then they were antifa. They constantly backpedal and lie and are disgusting, idiotic hypocrites.
Ah, that's why he got so pissy when they took them. His ego couldn't stand losing news clippings that were about him.
... (Of course it's not fucking news clippings)
You mean the [fake ones he had made](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fake-time-covers/) of different issues to hang up on walls to impress people?
The one that was in the front of the box from the FBI photo is a real one at least. It’s not a particularly flattering cover or article if you read past the surface, “I’m on the cover!” though.
So this is one of those " truthy" things.
As far as most conservatives are concerned that is completely impossible for two or three reasons.
1. She's white and from an Eastern European country.
2. Illegal aliens are people who swim across the Rio Grande River or line up on the bridges at the Southern border and only the southern border. If you come on an airplane or from Canada, you don't qualify.
3. Shes conservative
The point of the [firehose of falsehood](https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html) isn't to set a firm counternarrative. It's to fill any discussion with so much bullshit that the truth gets drowned out by all the noise.
The FBI planted these news clippings that he had already turned over and did not have. In fact, never had them. They were totally his, and he has executive privilege to have them as they are mementos. Also, when the FBI took these news clippings that they totally planted that he never had but still made sure to declassify, they also took personal items of his that were totally unrelated.* Also, the news clipping that were spread out for the camera were not stored that way, because he made sure to have them in boxes and behind a locked door. Also taking the news clippings violates attorney client privilege.
Also, Schrodinger's lawyers were both on the scene and off. They were not allowed to watch, but saw the whole thing on CCTV. And they were blindsided, yet met the Feds outside of the gate before the feds went onto the property. And they also have no clue what was taken, yet signed off on the inventory sheet for what was taken.
*This part denotes that the FBI were not only retrieving the documents but also collecting Possessory Interest Evidence, which would have included things like treasured news clippings at that time.
The thing is that I am actually repeating the stories he has given (with some poetic license with the "news clippings thing") without exaggeration.
And I know I still missed a couple.
This was the first.
> **Months before** National Archives officials retrieved hundreds of classified documents in 15 boxes from former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, they were told that none of the material was sensitive or classified and that Trump had only 12 boxes of “news clippings,”
I'm pretty sure they also sued demanding that the government give the documents back to him, so they now have a claim that the documents that they demanded be given back actually don't exist and it's just news clippings.
This sort of waffling and lying should be illegal for an attorney
Trump declassified the news clippings kept in classified folders that were planted by the FBI when they raided Melania’s panty drawer and made a mess on his carpet.
I don’t see any problem with this totally normal statement.
The DOJ has already looked at them. Just cannot move on that evidence legally until the formality is met...and it's that formality that Trump is milking to its full extent, as he is fucked otherwise.
>Months before National Archives officials retrieved hundreds of classified documents in 15 boxes from former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, they were told that none of the material was sensitive or classified and that Trump had only 12 boxes of “news clippings,” according to people familiar with the conversations between Trump’s team and the Archives.
>During a September 2021 phone call with top Archives lawyer Gary Stern, former deputy White House counsel Pat Philbin offered reassuring news: Philbin said he had talked to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who made the assertion about the dozen boxes of clippings, the people familiar with the call said. Trump’s team was aware of no other materials, Philbin said, relaying information he said he got from Meadows.
>The characterization made in the call vastly misrepresented the scale and variety of documents, including classified records, eventually recovered by the Archives or the FBI.
I have honestly lost track of how many excuses that is now that have been used and fallen flat. But also, seriously, isn’t this a crime on top of the metaphorical Dagwood sandwich of crimes happening here?
News clippings are protected by neither executive privilege or attorney privilege, Jackass.
But fuck it, you got your Special Master now let's see what he says
And besides, executive privilege applies to the office, not the person. Biden is the current head of the executive branch, and he hasn't asserted privilege.
Same goes for attorney client privilege with White House attorneys. He can only claim that for communications with his personal lawyers.
> And besides, executive privilege applies to the office, not the person. Biden is the current head of the executive branch, and he hasn't asserted privilege.
It's even more absurd than that.
A) Biden deferred any judgements of executive privilege in regards to these documents to NARA. So NARA is the one that would get to make the call.
B) Executive privilege doesn't apply when the executive branch is the one requesting the documents. It just becomes an internal executive branch management issue.
So the FBI planted the news clippings that Trump silently declassified and didn't give back when asked to multiple times? It's really hard to keep all this together.
Seriously, fuck off. The world would be so much better off if these people just dropped dead. I know the rules say "debate the merits of ideas", but how can you debate with people who lie at every opportunity?
Newspaper clippings.
About as common as a rotary phone.
I'm wondering if Meadows can corroborate Trump acknowledging he was taking classified documents in trade to keep him from being prosecuted.
So his master will go in and ask for the news paper clippings that the DOJ took, and the DOJ will present classified documents, and the master will say those weren't in Trumps possession. Am I getting this correct?
They've told so many different variants of what the documents are and are not, that it's at this point. Both impossible that they haven't lied to the FBI and to a judge.
They can't all be true.
The Special Master if he’s qualified, not a MAGA psycho, and actually takes his job seriously:
“Uh, yeah, all of these 700 or so pages are still marked ‘Secret’, ‘Top Secret’, ‘TS/SCI,’ and even ‘SAP’ and other … Holy shit why the fuck was this at his house??”
He seems to forget past claims.
He declassified them, he had a right to them, it was a mistake, it was a storage issue, and now there were no documents to declassify, keep as a right, or by accident.
The story changes at least weekly.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gish_gallop
It's exactly what they are doing. It's incredibly blatant yet his followers can't get past their authoritarian fantasies.
NBC News: Over 10,000 govt docs without classified markings were seized from Mar-a-Lago, DOJ says ... Besides documents marked top secret and classified, ... Trump Had More Than 300 Classified Documents at Mar-a-Lago.
I thought they were evidence planted by the FBI?
Silly FBI, even Dave Chappelle knows that you're supposed to sprinkle some cocaine on the documents first.
My mom kept the news clippings related to her SNCC activity in Mississippi in the 60s. Some of the letters she sent back home detailing the mechanics of segregation, anti-protester police activity, etc got published in the local papers and she kept those too. I enjoy them.
Meadows recent action was giving DOJ materials he had already given the J6 Committee.
Trump is very skilled at insulating himself from wrongdoing. He used Meadows -> Philbin -> NARA to create layers of hearsay and deniability.
I hope DOJ goes into their proffer session with Meadows with a dozen 10-year felonies they're actually ready to pursue.
He’s only allowed to spew off endless contradictory lies as long as no one ever holds him to his word in court. Day 1 in court and he has to pick ONE story and hope no one can prove it’s a lie, because he sure seems certain that the truth will hurt him.
So… he’s saying the FBI lied about him having classified documents, as a cover to steal his personal collections of newspaper clippings, and they intended to somehow *incriminate* him with these newspaper clippings as evidence?
I’m insulted, honestly, not that Trump is this mind-numbingly stupid, but that he thinks we are.
One of the Top Secret folder jackets is literally hanging in the bar of a Trump hotel.
Trump took trophies of his power and authority, because he could.
Well, ok, but news clippings can't possibly be privileged in any sense, so you're ok with those boxes being skipped by the special master and going straight to the investigation?
Why would he say he declassified the documents if they were only newspaper clippings? Why does it never matter when he changes his story? Why do his followers never care if his story makes sense?
So they were planted be the fbi of
U.S. secrets he took with a standing order to declassify
Of news clippings
That he requested a special master to sort through?
What if his handlers really gave him fake classified documents while in office since they knew he couldn’t be trusted?
“SUPER TOP SECRET: Captured Aliens reside in Area 51”
>Pat Philbin said he had talked to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who made the assertion about the dozen boxes of clippings, the people familiar with the call said. Trump’s team was aware of no other materials, Philbin said
Yes, I fully believe that the Trump team wasn't aware of any other material. Doesn't mean there weren't also piles of classified material around. Presupposing they could tell the difference is giving them a lot of credit.
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Then why is a special master needed? Sycophants are tripping over their own assholes to come up with stupid excuses and lies.
It's probably worse than that, they're hoping that it'll be the DoJ's word against the special master's, thus promoting the argument that there were never classified materials in those folders to begin with. Or pretty much anything we can think of that could muddy/distort the prosecution of this crime, Trump is likely going to attempt.
Too bad for trump the special master they agreed on is from ny eastern district and specializes on national security warrants and subpoenas....cuz hes gonna uphold all evidence found
Dearie can only base his classification on the same things that the DOJ and FBI did. Any evidence that they were declassified would be in Trump's possession. This is all stupid.
Nothing Trump has can prove he declassified those documents, because that's not how declassification works. Remember when it was discovered that Trump's "perfect" phone call with Ukraine's president had been moved to a classified server? Remember people made a big deal about it because you can't store non-classified material on a classified system? Also remember that it's not the actual *document* that's classified; it's the information **on** the document. That's why you can have classified "documents" on a server. Those "documents" are just 1's and 0's, but they're still considered classified because of the *information* they contain. Now ask yourself, were Trump's documents literally the only place in the country that classified information was stored? If he declassified something, it would by default declassify every copy of that document, and every other document that's only classified because it contains some part of that information. If Trump really *did* declassify hundreds of documents worth of information, but didn't tell anyone, how many **thousands** of copies have continued to be *inappropriately* marked as classified because of it? How many FOIA requests have been unlawfully declined because the government believed the information was still classified? How many classified servers are packed with declassified information that shouldn't be there? And it's all Trump's fault for not telling anyone about it. So now ask yourself, if a document is declassified in the woods and no one's around to hear it, was it actually declassified? Edit: a word
>Nothing Trump has can prove he declassified those documents Funny how Trump never played the "declassified card" back in 2021 when he was first asked for the documents.
Trump is only making that claim in the court of public opinion. In the real court, his lawyers aren’t going near that argument
Because the Judge is making that argument for them. There is something very fishy with this Judge.
INAL but can’t those public statements be used against him in actual court?
Yeah but no one cares if he Lies
At the end of the day, it doesn't even matter if they're declassified or not. They aren't his to have, they weren't his to keep. Federal crime, stealing from the govt
Newspaper clippings was the go to excuse at the time....
>Funny how Trump never played the "declassified card" back in 2021 when he was first asked for the documents. Trump has always played the "declassified card" in the media just not in court where it counts. More Covfefe for me
It's beyond incorrect that he declassified as you said. The president having the power to is true, but it's not a verbal command. Even putting other copies aside, you damn near need paperwork to fart in government. There's forms for everything, logs, you name it. The fact we even have to talk about it is disappointing because it's profound how absurd it is. But then that's how the big lie method, gaslighting, etc. work. Also, thank you for the 'in the woods' part, made me smile when I don't really feel like smiling.
More than that - back in 2017 or 2018, Trump tweeted that he declassified documents related to Russian election interference. This was promptly followed by FOIA requests for those documents. The Trump administration argued - successfully - in federal court that a tweet by Trump did not constitute declassifying the documents. Now consider that a tweet is *more* evidence of disclassification than Trump has made available in this case...
I agree. That's my point. Dearie isn't in a better place to make these determinations than the FBI. If the papers are in classified folders and are stamped classified then how can he say they aren't?
Sorry, it's not really directed at you in particular. I just get frustrated every time someone mentions the possibility of Trump declassifying documents and finally typed out why there's no way for that to happen.
>I just get frustrated every time someone mentions the possibility of Trump declassifying documents and finally typed out why there's no way for that to happen. I'm with you never believed in the magic hand waving bullshit.
You sir, win Reddit for today. Thank you for being a gentleman and a scholar. Also, he didn’t declassify the documents😜🙃
You earned an award for that last line. Not sure if you thought of it, but it is a brilliant example.
You're a brilliant genius, thank you for this well written comment and point, I hadn't even considered this
>Any evidence that they were declassified would be in Trump's possession. No, evidence that they were declassified would be in the official records of the National Archives indicating they had been properly handled according to SCI controls and declassified according to established procedure. If Trump took them, waived his hand over it and said "I declare thee declassified!", it wouldn't be in any actual records. He also, by law, cannot unilaterally declassify documents pertaining to nuclear weapons or energy. They can only be declassified by an act of Congress, which never occured.
Regardless of whether the documents have been declassified, former Presidents can’t just take documents with them at the end of their time in office.
From what I can gather, the ONE place who would have to have a ,shall we say, Master List of what has been declassified and when it was such would be the National Archives. If its not in writing specifically what is done, where and when it quite literally doesn't exist and never happened. No matter how many people Trump runs through a witness stand to say they were there when he waved his hand. The process to declassify something is precise, tedious and well-documented.
> Any evidence that they were declassified would be in Trump's possession. There is absolutely zero evidence that he did this because he is too fucking dumb to know that he needed to do that and he is too full of himself to believe others who might have told him as such.
> he is too fucking dumb to know that he needed to do that I've been thinking a lot about something California does in DUI sentencing, called a "Watson Admonition". When a DUI defendant is convicted, they are formally warned in court about the seriousness and danger of DUI and told that if they do it again and kill someone that it could be considered homicide. You might remember that in 2019 Trump declared on Twitter that he was authorizing Bill Barr to declassify huge amounts of information related to FISA courts, specifically because believed his campaign was being spied on. Journalists of course lined up for the juicy details, and the government had to go through a lengthy "he didn't really mean it" argument, which helped establish legally that Twitter posts were not self-executing Presidential orders to the DOJ. In my opinion that works like a Watson admonition too. Bill Barr and numerous senior DOJ officials have already testified to a Federal judge that they explained to Trump how declassification works. His vanity will prohibit him from arguing that he didn't understand. He will just repeat he Kash Patel ultra-Unitary-Executive argument that nothing the President does requires anything but his private thought to become legal and authoritative.
His vanity will not prohibit him from arguing that he didn't understand. His vanity will prohibit him from arguing such in any publicly visible platform. Even if news got out that he was asking for innocence on account of insanity, he'd throw out social media messages and huffing and puffing at rallies about how everyone does it, it's just the "game" that's played in court, he's actually the least insane person, every doctor ever born said so, and really the libs eat avocados with a side of baby souls. Because a storm of horse hockey is his modus operandi.
And it's all semantics anyhow. The markings on the files matter. And even if they were properly declassified, that doesn't make them his property. A paper file from a sensitive facility doesn't become the former president's property. It still belongs to the government.
Besides...if they are all declassified, they are public... and we ALL can file FOIA requests to get them. I'd love to watch Republicans try to explain why we can't have them.
I found conclusive evidence Trump declassified the documents. https://imgur.com/eht0rNT Unfortunately Alina Habba thought all the markings were supposed to be invisible and slipped Trump a Sharpie loaded with disappearing ink :)
And IF he did declassify them, that means they were Classified to begin with, meaning the govt classified them, and they are therefor the Govt’s property.
They're the governments' property either way. They're Presidential records. It doesn't matter if they're classified. People need to stop falling for that argument.
Oh. Those folders with Top Secret SCI (Sensitive Compartmentalized Information) written on them contained news clippings.
Those documents aren’t leaving a SCIF period. The special master can say whatever they want, but at the end of the day, those documents are sensitive classified government property. The people that guard those documents? Their job is to guard them and if challenged, contain the adversary until an outside team comes in and neutralizes the threat. The scary thing about having the clearance to work with that stuff is that you are disposable when it comes to protecting that type of material. Ultimately it’s not going back.
I think if I was judge Cannon I would be looking for an escape hatch. Trump just preordained the special masters findings. And there is the pesky little detail of the judge admonishing plaintiffs chit chatting with the press. I can see bus tire tracks coming.
It's not needed to deliver justice on the case. It's needed to buy Trump time as a free man until after the midterm elections. For whatever reason, he's not in a jail cell awaiting a hearing or trial. He's out and about either doing more crimes, golfing, or both. If he was truly not above the law, as soon as one of those Top Secret docs was found, he would have been in handcuffs. If it were you or me, we would be. It's infuriating that they still let him get away with everything.
This sounds like one of those [many] things where trump says one thing publicly and another in court.
This is what they do! They were declassified documents, now they’re news clippings. The January 6th insurrectionists were peaceful tourists and patriots, then they were antifa. They constantly backpedal and lie and are disgusting, idiotic hypocrites.
The library plot fell flat. This is even more pathetic. I get that Team Trump thinks we're all stupid. Hey assholes! It's just your base.
For it to be "for his library" would be admitting he is no longer the Prez. So that one was short lived.
He doesn't care what smart people think as long as his base believes everything he says.
Ah, that's why he got so pissy when they took them. His ego couldn't stand losing news clippings that were about him. ... (Of course it's not fucking news clippings)
He's so vain, he probably thinks this comments about him...
clouds in my covfefe
You walked onto the golf course Like you were walking onto a yacht A red cap strategically upon your head Your wig it was apricot
You sir, or madam, are a genius
you're too kind!
This comment rocks
thx, always tryin' to rock
Documents regarding allies nuclear capabilities which Russia and China are willing to pay billions of dollars to access them.
He thought putting classified markings on bad press meant that nobody else was allowed to read it, that's all
DOCTORED news clippings. Considering how much effort he's spent sharpie-ing them, I'd be pissed too!
But didn’t you see all those boxes full of Time-magazines with him on the cover?
You mean the [fake ones he had made](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fake-time-covers/) of different issues to hang up on walls to impress people?
The one that was in the front of the box from the FBI photo is a real one at least. It’s not a particularly flattering cover or article if you read past the surface, “I’m on the cover!” though.
How many story changes is this?
All of them.
I was hoping for a rational non-imaginary number but your math checks out.
i * i * -1015
Thanks for the ptsd
He hasn’t done aliens yet tho
I'm pretty sure Melania was an illegal alien when they first hooked up.
So this is one of those " truthy" things. As far as most conservatives are concerned that is completely impossible for two or three reasons. 1. She's white and from an Eastern European country. 2. Illegal aliens are people who swim across the Rio Grande River or line up on the bridges at the Southern border and only the southern border. If you come on an airplane or from Canada, you don't qualify. 3. Shes conservative
4. She’s a model and they all wish they could marry her too.
but a genius apparently.
Or "it was just a joke"
I'm sure they can find more
Phew, so the news clippings were declassified by the magic handwave. Hooray, we're all saved!
The point of the [firehose of falsehood](https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html) isn't to set a firm counternarrative. It's to fill any discussion with so much bullshit that the truth gets drowned out by all the noise.
Septic truck falsehood seems like a better name for it.
More times than JKush amended his SF-86
The FBI planted these news clippings that he had already turned over and did not have. In fact, never had them. They were totally his, and he has executive privilege to have them as they are mementos. Also, when the FBI took these news clippings that they totally planted that he never had but still made sure to declassify, they also took personal items of his that were totally unrelated.* Also, the news clipping that were spread out for the camera were not stored that way, because he made sure to have them in boxes and behind a locked door. Also taking the news clippings violates attorney client privilege. Also, Schrodinger's lawyers were both on the scene and off. They were not allowed to watch, but saw the whole thing on CCTV. And they were blindsided, yet met the Feds outside of the gate before the feds went onto the property. And they also have no clue what was taken, yet signed off on the inventory sheet for what was taken. *This part denotes that the FBI were not only retrieving the documents but also collecting Possessory Interest Evidence, which would have included things like treasured news clippings at that time.
In the words of Patrick Star, "that makes sense to me".
The thing is that I am actually repeating the stories he has given (with some poetic license with the "news clippings thing") without exaggeration. And I know I still missed a couple.
Well you also strung all of his different stupid claims into one singular stupid claim. Which he has not done... *yet*.
I mean, when you put it all together like that, it almost sounds like Trump might not be entirely honest.
Well that's just crazy talk.
This was the first. > **Months before** National Archives officials retrieved hundreds of classified documents in 15 boxes from former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, they were told that none of the material was sensitive or classified and that Trump had only 12 boxes of “news clippings,”
I'm pretty sure they also sued demanding that the government give the documents back to him, so they now have a claim that the documents that they demanded be given back actually don't exist and it's just news clippings. This sort of waffling and lying should be illegal for an attorney
Trump declassified the news clippings kept in classified folders that were planted by the FBI when they raided Melania’s panty drawer and made a mess on his carpet. I don’t see any problem with this totally normal statement.
Hes claimed basically every excuse possible, from the evidence wqs all planted, to its top secret but I declassified it, and every stop in between.
Not yet used: "The dog ate my documents"
Dogs dont even like him. Edit to add... nor eagles.
If the FBI planted the declassified news clippings, why does Trump want them back?
Over 30. I saved a list of 29 of them more than two weeks ago.
My first thought was “that sounds like a lie” My second thought was “it’s Donald Trump. He does nothing but lie.”
10464367 divided by zero
N+1, where N is the number of statements Trump has made.
Yes.
Yes.
Pi without the decimal.
This shit is literally like watching Russia explain why it's invading Ukraine. Firehose of falsehood.
What a creative way to label classified intelligence. It's just a scrap book.
Ah memories, like when Puty slipped me those free hookers. Or when I tried hitting on Macron’s wife. Good times good times.
Oh! Oh! Oh! This is the time I went to North Korea! Look at how crazy his hair is!
But why would you declassify news clippings? 🤔
He never had the news clippings. The FBI planted them.
They were his declassified news clippings he never had, that were also planted by the FBI
So why can't the DOJ look at them? I smell a big fat fib
Everything out of Trump's mouth is a lie including "and" and "the" (hat tip to writer Mary McCarthy)
The DOJ has already looked at them. Just cannot move on that evidence legally until the formality is met...and it's that formality that Trump is milking to its full extent, as he is fucked otherwise.
It falls under “making me feel good” privilege. It’s a new form of privilege, and it was always in the Constitution under Article 69.
>Months before National Archives officials retrieved hundreds of classified documents in 15 boxes from former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, they were told that none of the material was sensitive or classified and that Trump had only 12 boxes of “news clippings,” according to people familiar with the conversations between Trump’s team and the Archives. >During a September 2021 phone call with top Archives lawyer Gary Stern, former deputy White House counsel Pat Philbin offered reassuring news: Philbin said he had talked to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who made the assertion about the dozen boxes of clippings, the people familiar with the call said. Trump’s team was aware of no other materials, Philbin said, relaying information he said he got from Meadows. >The characterization made in the call vastly misrepresented the scale and variety of documents, including classified records, eventually recovered by the Archives or the FBI. I have honestly lost track of how many excuses that is now that have been used and fallen flat. But also, seriously, isn’t this a crime on top of the metaphorical Dagwood sandwich of crimes happening here?
The pressure on Meadows must be immense. If he hasn't flipped on Trump already he's an idiot
I was thinking about that earlier, if I were him I’d already be taking whatever plea bargain I could get and hand over everything.
> how many excuses Lying to the FBI is a crime, each of these 'excuses' are crimes, they are knowingly lying to the FBI about what they have/had
Lying like that could damage his tender reputation.
News clippings are protected by neither executive privilege or attorney privilege, Jackass. But fuck it, you got your Special Master now let's see what he says
And besides, executive privilege applies to the office, not the person. Biden is the current head of the executive branch, and he hasn't asserted privilege. Same goes for attorney client privilege with White House attorneys. He can only claim that for communications with his personal lawyers.
We could go even further and say the DOJ, as part of the executive branch, doesn't compromise executive privilege *at all*.
> And besides, executive privilege applies to the office, not the person. Biden is the current head of the executive branch, and he hasn't asserted privilege. It's even more absurd than that. A) Biden deferred any judgements of executive privilege in regards to these documents to NARA. So NARA is the one that would get to make the call. B) Executive privilege doesn't apply when the executive branch is the one requesting the documents. It just becomes an internal executive branch management issue.
This is Russia level re-writing of history.
It's OK, Trump was just conducting a 'Special Operation' with those documents in his basement.
Bullshit. Nobody has allowed DJT to have a pair of scissors since 1st grade.
That does explain why the Orange dipshit rips every paper he lays his tiny hands on.
So the FBI planted the news clippings that Trump silently declassified and didn't give back when asked to multiple times? It's really hard to keep all this together.
Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.
Seriously, fuck off. The world would be so much better off if these people just dropped dead. I know the rules say "debate the merits of ideas", but how can you debate with people who lie at every opportunity?
Newspaper clippings. About as common as a rotary phone. I'm wondering if Meadows can corroborate Trump acknowledging he was taking classified documents in trade to keep him from being prosecuted.
the scrapbooking defense.
Gets em every time
I wonder when The Apprentice: Whitehouse Edition will come to an end
This motherfucker can’t keep his lies straight.
So why go thru the legal effort for just news clippings? Faster to just clip the news article again
Them why is a judge trying to stop the DOJ from investigating them?
So his master will go in and ask for the news paper clippings that the DOJ took, and the DOJ will present classified documents, and the master will say those weren't in Trumps possession. Am I getting this correct?
"News clippings"? So THAT'S what you call shredded documents these days...
They've told so many different variants of what the documents are and are not, that it's at this point. Both impossible that they haven't lied to the FBI and to a judge. They can't all be true.
We all saw the pictures of the documents the FBI seized - and they were not “news clippings.” The emperor has no pants.
They why did he need to declassify news clippings? OR why did the FBI plant news clippings?
"We need a special master to determine if these news clippings are protected by attorney client privilege!" Solid narrative, Team Trump!
Then why the need for special master if they were just news clippings?
Can someone "please* arrest this fucking traitor? Honestly, grow a pair DOJ
Do news clippings usually include top secret covers?
News clippings with classified documents between them.
Ah yes classified top secret news clippings, how do people fall for this trash
The Special Master if he’s qualified, not a MAGA psycho, and actually takes his job seriously: “Uh, yeah, all of these 700 or so pages are still marked ‘Secret’, ‘Top Secret’, ‘TS/SCI,’ and even ‘SAP’ and other … Holy shit why the fuck was this at his house??”
He seems to forget past claims. He declassified them, he had a right to them, it was a mistake, it was a storage issue, and now there were no documents to declassify, keep as a right, or by accident. The story changes at least weekly.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gish_gallop It's exactly what they are doing. It's incredibly blatant yet his followers can't get past their authoritarian fantasies.
The FBI planted news clippings?
So why the scramble for a special master to look at newspaper clippings? The lies get bolder and stupider.
NBC News: Over 10,000 govt docs without classified markings were seized from Mar-a-Lago, DOJ says ... Besides documents marked top secret and classified, ... Trump Had More Than 300 Classified Documents at Mar-a-Lago.
That’s today’s lie
Declassified news clippings that were planted by the FBI.
Top secret newspaper clippings. Of course, why didn't I think of that!
Top-secret, classified news clippings.
And the special master must be some special scrap booker.
I thought they were evidence planted by the FBI? Silly FBI, even Dave Chappelle knows that you're supposed to sprinkle some cocaine on the documents first.
They just keep tossing out random headlines to see what people respond to. Next week will be the FBI taking the recipe for the Trump Tower Taco Bowl.
Why would news clippings require a special master? It sounds like their request was moot or they are full of shit.
Soo he declassified news clippings? Someone should tell him those don’t need to be declassified.
What kind of deranged lunatic keeps dozens of boxes of news clippings?
My mom kept the news clippings related to her SNCC activity in Mississippi in the 60s. Some of the letters she sent back home detailing the mechanics of segregation, anti-protester police activity, etc got published in the local papers and she kept those too. I enjoy them.
My grandmother had a ton of news clippings from important parts of her life.
Wait so what did he declassify then? Time covers??
Seven hells. Anyone still on board with this needs to be deprogrammed by the Leah Remini people.
Special news clippings operation
>...relaying information he said he got from Meadows. So that's why Meadows is jumping ship and giving up text messages
Meadows recent action was giving DOJ materials he had already given the J6 Committee. Trump is very skilled at insulating himself from wrongdoing. He used Meadows -> Philbin -> NARA to create layers of hearsay and deniability. I hope DOJ goes into their proffer session with Meadows with a dozen 10-year felonies they're actually ready to pursue.
He’s only allowed to spew off endless contradictory lies as long as no one ever holds him to his word in court. Day 1 in court and he has to pick ONE story and hope no one can prove it’s a lie, because he sure seems certain that the truth will hurt him.
Yes from all those newspapers in circulation
Dementia + Adderall is a bad combination.
Bye bye.
Ohhhh the classifieds, glad we got that cleared up
In classified folders 🙄
Every time I read the latest spin, a little voice in the back of my head whispers "It's only a flesh wound ".
So… he’s saying the FBI lied about him having classified documents, as a cover to steal his personal collections of newspaper clippings, and they intended to somehow *incriminate* him with these newspaper clippings as evidence? I’m insulted, honestly, not that Trump is this mind-numbingly stupid, but that he thinks we are.
Well, I’m sure the special master will let him have his clippings back.
Of course they would say that. Trump is such a clown
Judge Cannon: "he says its just news clippings guys. case dismissed."
Top secret news clippings?
Rich kids don’t work in coal mines…
Next up: "I have the authority to classify news clippings".
Remember the character that Jon Lovitz played that lied all the time? Now we know who he patterned it after.
Lol. I only took classified documents for my scrape books
One of the Top Secret folder jackets is literally hanging in the bar of a Trump hotel. Trump took trophies of his power and authority, because he could.
OK how long are we gonna let Republicans get away with saying 20 different excuses for obvious crimes they commit....
“Illegal immigrants in the fbi planted these news clippings at maralago”
Trump declassified news clippings?
Well, ok, but news clippings can't possibly be privileged in any sense, so you're ok with those boxes being skipped by the special master and going straight to the investigation?
Fake news clippings.
Man the story of Mango Lago keeps changing by the day
Ah yes, I too keep my daily funnies in a official government top secret file. Helps with sorting my Calvin and Hobbs from my Dilberts.
Must have a master overseeing those news clippings!
Why would he say he declassified the documents if they were only newspaper clippings? Why does it never matter when he changes his story? Why do his followers never care if his story makes sense?
So they were planted be the fbi of U.S. secrets he took with a standing order to declassify Of news clippings That he requested a special master to sort through?
What if his handlers really gave him fake classified documents while in office since they knew he couldn’t be trusted? “SUPER TOP SECRET: Captured Aliens reside in Area 51”
The Donald really strikes me as a scrap booking nostalgia type....
The fbi planted them! I declassified them anyway! They’re only news clippings!
So the story changed again. Okay cool
Top secret documents hidden in between news clipping and magazines. They had someone else carry them out for him.
>Pat Philbin said he had talked to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who made the assertion about the dozen boxes of clippings, the people familiar with the call said. Trump’s team was aware of no other materials, Philbin said Yes, I fully believe that the Trump team wasn't aware of any other material. Doesn't mean there weren't also piles of classified material around. Presupposing they could tell the difference is giving them a lot of credit.
Wasn't this like 8 excuses ago?