Do you think people in the public eye abuse social media to get ahead of facts just to disrupt the process and create mistrust?

[DaveJord]

So just like private citizens we have the right to pled the 5th and not talk about material facts to the police that might incriminate ourselves. So it its pretty established facts and standard policy that investigators do not talk about material facts of on going investigation before any charges are filed. Of course before charges are filed you have to gather potential evidence. Releasing material facts to an on going investigate prior to any charges being filed could potentially taint the jury pool and lead to a mistrial.

So why do people get all worked up when some one, who is presumed innocent any way gets on social media accusing law enforcement of violations, when you know they know law enforce can't respond to their accusations with out potentially causing a mistrial? Are people seriously that confused about the process or do they honestly think high profile public figures are guilt free?

Yes I am talking about Trump, regardless of the merits of the search warrant... they found classified material at his residence. Remember the big deal over Hillary and her sever? I mean at least in her case the government knew about the server... why the hell would Trump keep classified material at his house? Do you all really think there is nothing to that, and would you not want law enforcement to investigate it?

I mean if he is innocent, then you would think he would want to defend that in court.

[jshm2]

Nope. Facts are facts and will always outlast any lies and obfuscation in the end.

Social media is largely just "the grapevine" and "rumour mill" made virtual.

Before social media you could claim to have "just heard it," even if you just made it up.

Social media enables you to not only make it up, but gather a following to push your claims that you did. But it doesn't take much to cut through the lies.

Too many people just cannot be bothered is all.

[Guy13]

All politicians do this as do many corporate entities.

[monorprise]

Since when have politicians not been serial liers?

Their job is to get elected which unfortunately is a very different thing than actually getting good result in a Government powerful enough to enslave any portion of its people to the service of the others.

As for your claims about Trump that is nonsense on its face given the president unlike the Secretary of the State defined what is and is not classified. So as long as President Trump thought what was in the boxes was not classified or national Security information it wasn't by definition.
This is very different from any other position under the Government who must adhere to the President's definition in regard to Government information.

[DaveJord]

So have you ever had a Top-Secret/SCI Clearance? I have, so let me tell you it doesn't work that way. Sure the President of the United States can declassify something. But there are three basic levels of classification within the United States... Top-Secret, Secret and Confidential. Confidential is lowest level of classification which is considered information that could result in damage to national security.

Unclassified Material is something that has never been awarded or deem worthy of being classified as Top-Secret, Secret or Confidential. So yes the president can declassify something but once something has been classified the standard rule use by the DOJ is that it has be declassified for 10 years before it can be released to the public without a official review to release it sooner.

So yes the president can declassified something, but there is still a review process that has to take place. But even then it is still consider sensitive material, and its still consider government property, so you can't just pack it up in boxes and take it home with you. Ex-President or not... even with declassified material there still a need to know and what was his need to know after leaving the office of the President?

Truth is we will never know exactly what the documents he had at his house contained, or what his intent was in taking it... because for us to know that would mean exposing national security secrets that could cause potential harm to the government and our country. Former president or not, he had unauthorized government property at his house, which is a major no, no in general... but he was the President of the United States... but the crime is that he never disclosed it or got authorization to retain it once he left office. His authority as the President does not extent beyond his term in office.

[monorprise]

@DaveJord I'm sorry but its simply not true that the President can't declassify whatever he wants this power is inherit to the executive, and the rules HE established can be changed at any point for any reason by him Including 1 second before leaving office.

Deny this fact all you like in your insane effort to "punish" a former president for not following your preferred policy. An act which serous compromises the key political deal of democracy.

[DaveJord]

@monorprise I can only tell you facts if you choose to ignore the laws on the books or fail to understand the process... if he had classified or sensitive materials at his private residence he broke the law. Presidents can't just declassify anything they want and walk out the door with government property.

The information contained with in those documents are government property... no president can get around that fact. He can declassify them, but he can't just walk out the door and take them home as he leaves office. If he declassified then all he had to do was release it to the public and then he could google search it on the internet... but he didn't do that he just took the documents and walk out the door with government property.

Why would he do that? Why would he not just release all the information in the documents to the public before leaving office if he declassified them?

One would only assume that he is wanting to hide something, or their is something of value with them that he wants for later use.

[monorprise]

@DaveJord There is indeed something of value to him in said documents, and a President is NOT required to immediately publish any information he declassify. Nearly all Government documents are unclassified and unpublished. Indeed it often takes freedom of information act requests to get them.

Most presidents take their own records with them for the propose of their presidential library where the public can go to learn about their administration.

The national archives was able request a copy of any document and they were in the process of acquiring such copies as happens with every outgoing president.

The raid and very General search warrant executed for the propose of fining any and all information, and executed under the demand of no witnesses including Security cameras. Represents a fundamental attack on a former president and threat to all future presidents should they choose to agree to hand over power to a hostile faction.

There is no justification Democrats could have for such a raid that would ever come close to justifying the consequences of such an act.
America now has a fairly good chance of eventually ending up in a dictatorship of civil war because of the long term consequences of this act, giving all future presidents a compelling reason not to become a former president peacefully.

[Sabretooth]

It's insane.

[Sixgunsound]

Absolutely.