From today's Jeff Childers' newsletter:
" Is President Trump reading Coffee & Covid? Last week on Thursday (September 22), President Trump told Sean Hannity that as president he has broad declassification powers, and he said stuff that was right out of that morning’s C&C post.
Here’s what Trump said: “Different people say different things but as I understand it, if you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified, even by thinking about it.”
Trump explained, “because you’re sending it to Mar-a-Lago or wherever you’re sending it. There doesn’t have to be a process. There can be a process, but there doesn’t have to be.” Trump continued, “you’re the president … you make that decision.”
Now here’s what I posted on the morning of the same day, September 22:
Well, I think that lawyers and other advisors read a lot of newsletters. Birdie
" Is President Trump reading Coffee & Covid? Last week on Thursday (September 22), President Trump told Sean Hannity that as president he has broad declassification powers, and he said stuff that was right out of that morning’s C&C post.
Here’s what Trump said: “Different people say different things but as I understand it, if you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified, even by thinking about it.”
Trump explained, “because you’re sending it to Mar-a-Lago or wherever you’re sending it. There doesn’t have to be a process. There can be a process, but there doesn’t have to be.” Trump continued, “you’re the president … you make that decision.”
Now here’s what I posted on the morning of the same day, September 22:
Compare them. Our summaries are eerily similar. Or, maybe we were just on the same wavelength last Thursday. What do you guys think?"My reading of the applicable law is that Trump needn’t do anything at all to declassify a document. In my view, all he has to do is DECIDE, and then act in conformity with that decision. So, I believe that if President Trump moves a classified document twelve inches, say moving it one foot out of the secured area into the common area, that’s all he has to do to declassify.
Taking the documents to Mar-a-Lago is an act in conformity with his decision to declassify. To me, it’s that easy.
Well, I think that lawyers and other advisors read a lot of newsletters. Birdie