Ranger7374 Loc: Arizona, 40 miles from the border in the DMZ

Okay this is a subject that seems to be blown out of proportion.

So, let me explain my position on Classified information.

Classified information is broken into categories:

Confidential, Secret and Top Secret.

Most classified material are categorized as either original classification, and derivative classification.
According to Art. 2 section 2 of the constitution explains this:

"The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.

He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law: but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.

The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session."

According to this, the president has planetary authority over classified material. The president also has original classification. This means, that according to the powers granted by Article 2, Section 2, he can classify or declassify at will the documents. Everyone else has derivative classification therefore there is a process in which those documents can be classified or declassified.

With this being said, the 30,000 emails of Hilary Clinton, were improperly handled unless, President Obama declassified them.
In the case of Donald Trump, the documents he had at his residence in Florida, were declassified due to a standing order.

Now the elected official the President, can decide whether or not a document is Presidential Confidential or "Classified" to be returned to the National Archives. That's the law folks, and can not be disputed.

Now, if we compare the documents Hillary was accused of, and the documents that Trump had, there is a major difference.

The first difference is Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, who does not have the power to classify or declassify sensitive documents.
Trump was President of the United States and therefore has the power to classify or declassify sensitive documents. But the limitation of Trumps power comes with the time he serves as president. The president can only control the classification of sensitive documents within his term. Therefore, From Jan 2017 until Jan 2021, all those documents can be classified or declassified by Donald Trump. Even after 12 years from Jan 2021. This is law.

Now the FBI raid, assumes that Donald Trump did not have this authority. Which is a politically motivated statement that falls apart and becomes untrue. According to law, the president has this authority, and Donald Trump was president, concerning the documents in question that were generated during his term in office or "watch".

Now if a president, such as Regan, Bush Sr, Clinton, Bush Jr, or Obama, took documents to their private residence, these individuals have the power to declassify them, and with proper procedure should cross out the classification and place "Unclassified" on the documents. This takes time, sometimes more than a year to complete.

For this reason, it is kind of improper to charge a former president under the espionage act based upon the misuse or mishandling of classified material. If this is true, then no former president could live in peace. Therefore Trump would join the presidents afore mentioned, and therefore the raid on his home is unwarranted and improper. Thus, all documents recovered by the Department of Justice could not be used in a court of Law because some of those documents were attorney-client priveledge documents. Thus, the saying, "fruit of the poisonous tree", a legal term applies. And the content of the documents, and the existence of the documents, could not be used in a court of law.

Needless to say the FBI screwed up giving the FBI benefit of the doubt, that the raid was not for political purposes. But with the information above, it is hard for an objective observer to believe that the FBI did not act upon political means, rather than legal means. The FBI is thus, suspect of breaking the same laws they swore to protect. So at the very least, the investigation into Donald Trump is being conducted recklessly and borderline illegally.

In the case of Hillary Clinton, the same issue would apply, if Obama declassified the Emails. Thus, it would make sense, what James Comey said about that prosecution. "No reasonable prosecutor would take this case"

The same rule should apply to Donald Trump, but in Hillary's case, if it went to trial, Obama would have declassified the emails, thus, Clinton could not be charged. Donald let it go, but Biden did not.

What is the greater sin? Donald not charging Hillary, or Joe charging Trump?

It would make sense to drop the issue. But will they?

Milosia2 Loc: Cleveland Ohio

** With this being said, the 30,000 emails of Hilary Clinton, were improperly handled unless, President Obama declassified them.
In the case of Donald Trump, the documents he had at his residence in Florida, were declassified due to a standing order. ***

Factually , in an interview between James Comey and Senate Intel Committee
Member the late John Lewis.
Lewis asked how many emails were classified ?
Comey said 3. Three out of 30,000 !
Of that 3 none were of any real importance
As the title had expired.
This interview has been very difficult to find but it is out there someplace .
So, the right and all of their hubbub about Hillary’s emails is just more lies and misinformation.
Obama had nothing to do with it.
They found nothing .
She was charged for nothing.
And news coming out now , it seems Comey dropped the charges before his public announcement.

Ranger7374 Loc: Arizona, 40 miles from the border in the DMZ

So can we agree that Clinton's email may be hard to prove? I would concede that, however for the FBI to take a picture of secret material.....or so they suspect.....and releasing a picture of that to the press....is a violation of classified material handling. Guilty by the espionage act, this if the material is classified not only does Trump go down, but also the FBI who leaked it to the press.