The indictment quotes Trump prattling to a visitor about a document from a Pentagon official: “He said that I wanted to attack [Country A]. This was the Defense Department. . . . This wasn’t done by me, this was him.”
Was the Justice Department outraged that Trump may have considered going to war without a declaration from Congress — as the Constitution requires?
No. Prosecutors were aghast that Trump showed pages to someone not properly vetted by the feds.
If an insider leaked the same document to The Washington Post, it likely would have been DC business as usual instead of the near-death of the republic.
The Justice Department shows more concern for federal prerogatives than for self-government.
The indictment condemns Trump for possessing documents “implicating the equities of multiple [US Intelligence Community] members and other executive branch departments and agencies.”
Does the Justice Department believe the CIA and other intelligence agencies have a property right in those documents that Trump somehow violated?
Can private citizens apply for some “equities” in government documents?
There are plenty of laws to protect government secrets but no law to protect democracy from federal secrecy.
The feds create trillion of pages of new secrets each year. Every page is treated as a holy relic that cannot be exposed without damning the nation.
The system automatically absolves any federal official who creates new secrets, thereby exempting federal agencies from oversight. The feds are likely committing more crimes than citizens will ever know.
The abuse of secrecy has become so flagrant that even CNN hinted at the problem in its annotation of the Trump indictment.
CNN noted, “It’s worth mentioning that the US system for classifying material is so complicated that it should probably be revisited” — preferably after Trump is convicted, right?
nypost.com
Was the Justice Department outraged that Trump may have considered going to war without a declaration from Congress — as the Constitution requires?
No. Prosecutors were aghast that Trump showed pages to someone not properly vetted by the feds.
If an insider leaked the same document to The Washington Post, it likely would have been DC business as usual instead of the near-death of the republic.
The Justice Department shows more concern for federal prerogatives than for self-government.
The indictment condemns Trump for possessing documents “implicating the equities of multiple [US Intelligence Community] members and other executive branch departments and agencies.”
Does the Justice Department believe the CIA and other intelligence agencies have a property right in those documents that Trump somehow violated?
Can private citizens apply for some “equities” in government documents?
There are plenty of laws to protect government secrets but no law to protect democracy from federal secrecy.
The feds create trillion of pages of new secrets each year. Every page is treated as a holy relic that cannot be exposed without damning the nation.
The system automatically absolves any federal official who creates new secrets, thereby exempting federal agencies from oversight. The feds are likely committing more crimes than citizens will ever know.
The abuse of secrecy has become so flagrant that even CNN hinted at the problem in its annotation of the Trump indictment.
CNN noted, “It’s worth mentioning that the US system for classifying material is so complicated that it should probably be revisited” — preferably after Trump is convicted, right?
Trump indictment shows federal secrecy gone wild makes political lies — like Biden’s — harder to uncover
Former President Donald Trump was indicted last week on 37 federal charges tied to his possession and mishandling of classified documents.
nypost.com
