We can spend all day going back and forth. That would be fun. But for now, I'll deal with this point.
"Biden would be sitting pretty right now if he apparently wasn't so damn criminally stupid about his document control."
Yeah, that was dumb. I'm not sure what happened there, but it's dumb. I've been in DoD-adjacent world for all of my career. Documents like that are supposed to have a cover sheet with the overall classification, a back sheet, the classification authority, declassification date, and the classification level of every page and every paragraph, and so on. I'm not sure how a properly marked document ends up in personal files, the key words being "properly marked".
On the other hand, intent matters. Data spills, for example, happen more often that you think. Sometimes someone unfamiliar with the classification guide for their particular program will send classified information over an unclassified network, and there are protocols to deal with that. If it were intentional, that person would be fired and lose their clearance. What Biden has going for him is as soon as he knew there was an issue, he allowed the process to recover those documents to take place without interference, and that's a big deal. The chips will fall where they fall. I don't think this will preclude the prosecution of Trump.
Back to work. Take care, Josh, and good talking to you.
Not only that. It's very possible, and this doesn't mean he is not responsible, that he assumed after the documents were viewed for whatever reason, that someone in his staff would call the National Archives and have them pick them up. The fact that the President wasn't aware that these documents had not been returned and that he's honest enough to bring it to everyone's attention.
That is remarkable because the President has the right to view these documents.
He could have told his lawyer to bring them to the White House. At that point he could notify the National Archives to come and pick them up. There would been no mishandling of classified documents.
We can spend all day going back and forth. That would be fun. But for now, I'll deal with this point.
"Biden would be sitting pretty right now if he apparently wasn't so damn criminally stupid about his document control."
Yeah, that was dumb. I'm not sure what happened there, but it's dumb. I've been in DoD-adjacent world for all of my career. Documents like that are supposed to have a cover sheet with the overall classification, a back sheet, the classification authority, declassification date, and the classification level of every page and every paragraph, and so on. I'm not sure how a properly marked document ends up in personal files, the key words being "properly marked".
On the other hand, intent matters. Data spills, for example, happen more often that you think. Sometimes someone unfamiliar with the classification guide for their particular program will send classified information over an unclassified network, and there are protocols to deal with that. If it were intentional, that person would be fired and lose their clearance. What Biden has going for him is as soon as he knew there was an issue, he allowed the process to recover those documents to take place without interference, and that's a big deal. The chips will fall where they fall. I don't think this will preclude the prosecution of Trump.
Back to work. Take care, Josh, and good talking to you.
Not only that. It's very possible, and this doesn't mean he is not responsible, that he assumed after the documents were viewed for whatever reason, that someone in his staff would call the National Archives and have them pick them up. The fact that the President wasn't aware that these documents had not been returned and that he's honest enough to bring it to everyone's attention.
That is remarkable because the President has the right to view these documents.
He could have told his lawyer to bring them to the White House. At that point he could notify the National Archives to come and pick them up. There would been no mishandling of classified documents.