. . .Trump has already asserted that the Alleged Declassification Standing Order exists on national television. . .
Federal Court Rejects FBI’s Attempt To Glomar Its Way Out Of A Trump-Related FOIA Lawsuit
from the denied?-confirmed! dept
After Donald Trump was forced to vacate the Oval Office to make way for its newest tenant, he apparently decided to cement his legacy by walking off with boxes full of classified documents. When the National Archive and Records Administration began filing away the records Trump actually deigned to turn over to it, it found a bunch of classified information. This led to an investigation by the DOJ and, ultimately, a raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence to recover any other classified documents the ex-president might have taken with him.
Trump’s response to this investigation and raid was just as nonsensical as his response to any other of his numerous scandals: he claimed he had issued a standing order to immediately declassify any classified documents he walked out the door with. This obviously makes no sense. First, the President can’t actually issue this sort of order. Second, even if a President could, there would still need to be a declassification review process to ensure documents were properly redacted before being placed into the public domain.
Finally, his claim of a standing declassification order was rebutted by several Trump administration officials, his former national security advisor (John Bolton), his former Attorney General (Bill Barr), and two former White House Chiefs of Staff.
. . .[ ]
The Massachusetts branch of the ACLU decided to ask around to see if any of the many agencies generating classified documents had a copy of this supposed standing order from the President.
. . .If the target of your investigation already knows whether or not a document exists, it can’t possibly harm an investigation targeting them if others confirm or deny existence of this (nonexistent) declassification order.
The FBI now has until May 25th to answer the question it’s been dodging since it started answering for other federal agencies late last summer. This is truly a ridiculous use of the FBI’s time and legal resources. And we’re the ones who have to pay for this obnoxious, truly stupid waste of time. Everyone knows the document doesn’t exist. All we want is for these agencies to officially confirm what everyone already knows so that it’s only Trump who can continue living in denial.
Filed Under: classified documents, declassification, donald trump, fbi, foia, glomar, glomar resonse, transparency
Companies: aclu
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