• orclev@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    21
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    10 months ago

    Playing devils advocate here, Trump has a history of wriggling out of what looked like slam dunk cases against him, and being an ex-president comes with truck loads of political baggage, so the DOJ might just be playing things extra-careful. It would make sense for them to double and triple check everything, dot all their i’s and cross all their t’s, and make sure everything is as utterly airtight as they can make it. The real danger is that they don’t go so slow that the whole thing becomes moot because they took so long that Trump managed to make himself dictator in chief.

    • psmgx@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      10 months ago

      It would make sense for them to double and triple check everything, dot all their i’s and cross all their t’s, and make sure everything is as utterly airtight as they can make it.

      absolutely. and he got impeached twice, so he’s been playing safe.

      The president also is ultimately the head of the “Departments” to include the Dept of Defense. All of the clearances and document classifications exist via presidential authority, so there are some genuine questions as to if a President can snap his fingers and change a classification, and how those rules interact with other laws about unauthorized disclosures. Which is also why Trump getting elected was such a coup for the Russians, as was a strongly Republican Supreme Court (who could bail him out if/when it gets to SCOTUS).

        • TechyDad@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          10 months ago

          Exactly. Imagine how the intelligence community would have to treat classified information if it could be declassified purely by a President waking up and thinking “it’s declassified.” Nobody would know what is still classified and what isn’t. Classified information might get leaked out because of a rumor that the President declassified something. Declassified information might still be treated as classified by some because nobody knows what is and what isn’t classified.

          There’s a process for a reason. Trump suggesting he can just “think” it declassified is totally ridiculous.