The answer is clearly "yes" in the most simple of hypothetical scenarios- ie. where something is clearly declassified in a way that is no longer being contested. Out in the real world, though it is vastly complicated, with each document or category having its own story and status in the process of being released. One of the things that complicates is the fact that the President has authority to declassify with regard to traditional areas such as intel, historical happening info, etc. but in some areas there is legislation allowing for agencies to still ask the court to withhold release for reasons x,y,z. Example, President declassifies a bunch of documents but the DOJ has legislation allowing the court to withhold certain documents that relate to an ongoing investigation. Or the court might agree with the declassification in general but allow the CIA to redact certain operational details. Some of those simple requests can take months/years in court. I know that Trump- for example- was and is pissed because he clearly declassified a bunch of FBI/DOJ shenanigan documents and Christopher Wray has still not released them because he jumped right in and argued a bunch of statutory rights to withhold based on pending cases, operations and methods and all of that. Just sayin, declassifed yes. Released no. And another thing is that the documents might not be immediately available because the president has declassified large caches of documents in an area and while it is technically declassified for release, the agency has some multi-month or even multi-year process for scrubbing it before putting it up on a searchable site or just declaring everything suitable for release without the president seeing it again. Although a specific request by a party -especially via a court order- could be singled out for release out of sequence. Kash Patel- the former Assist Sec of Defense said Trump's numerous broad declassifications put a lot of material into that category, where it is being processed for actual release. And as I said before, I cannot answer nor can anyone else right now- give it a month or so- know where some of his Mar-A-Largo stuff falls in regard to that. Okay. That is into the weeds a bit and I am not awake yet.
That is a possible ramification, that too secrets are now actually public information of what Trump is were real. People say public servants are sort of these bozos collecting a check and sitting on their ass sometimes but if you look at the statutes they cited for the warrant, they avoid the whole classification issue altogether. This in turn ensures the secrets can be kept just that. You are also correct in your inference that Trump’s claim/defense is in itself reckless that it puts national security in jeopardy in an attempt to save his own skin. However, it won’t be too long before some clever journalists or activist attorneys file FOIAs for the documents claiming they are declassified. Then the fun will begin.
The more immediate fun could start as early as monday. Both media outlets and Judicial Watch have petitioned the court for release of the affidavit and related and I think there is at least a preliminary hearing on monday. The court will side with the DOJ which will use the old "part of an ongoing investigation" routine. It may or may not be appealable depending on how the judge shoots it down. If he reaches his conclusion based on a finding of fact then that is where lower level judges have the most control. But if the rejects the request based on an interpretation of the law or precedent then that is fertile ground for appeal- usually. Whether it has merit or not does not matter and for the appeals court. I am not sure about that magistrate clown but it is not inconcieveable that a real district court judge might just order the redaction of a couple things and then let er rip -to head off all sorts of conspiracy and speculation if, in fact, there is nothing troublesome there. These magistrate clowns are a mixed bag. It is not clear- from state to state- what powers they have unless you research it. Usually they can just do procedural stuff and misdemeanors or felonies if there is a guilty pleas. Don't know if he can handle some issues without it going to a for-real judge.
C'mon Man. This is serious bidness. If Trump is storing uranium and splitting atoms at Mar-A-Largo, Garland needs to get on top of that.
Reverse on the prior discussion about classification not being a factor, it is possible on at least part of the obstruction citation. NYT is reporting Trump represented all classified material had been handed over June 3rd… Hence the argument of mental declassification(?).
Lol. This out of shape idiot thinks the IRS is coming after him since the fbi searched mar a lago. What are they going to get an under armor t shirt and a blow dryer? He’s a standard deduction in bedroom from the 1960s.
Just keep in mind that there are two important issues/aspects that the public and media (not the lefty) are monitoring here and are looking for answers. One is the search warrant and what they were looking for and why, etc. etc. The obvious. BUT ALSO why the DOJ suddenly went full blown scorched earth at Mara L rather than the lesser intrusive practices such as just issuing another subpoena or working through their ongoing contacts with Trump lawyers. Trump and his attorneys state that they were on good terms and that the last time the DOJ was there Trump alleges that he told them that if they needed anything to just say so. I am not in a position to confirm anything. Just saying that there is a PART TWO to this situation that is not just about what the classifications were etc. and whether the warrant was in order and what it specified. The lefties will argue that the DOJ had a good reason and I say I do not know and when I do see it I will know. We know from past experience that the DOJ likes to "go full Roger Stone" for no good reason other than to slash and burn someone in Camp Trump because they can. It is against that backdrop that we look for Garland's reasoning and it had better be good and it better not be "I just signed the warrant and let the FBI guys in the field decide how to execute it."
I don’t know about your impression of the feds but my impression is they don’t play. They usually follow the “book.” Which would probably go talk, subpoena, search warrant. It looks like that’s exactly what they did. The Trump attorneys representations of their view of how things were going is their view. To be fair to the attorneys they probably did not know about the other materials so I’m sure they felt cleared. Lying to a federal law enforcement officer is a crime. You don’t need to repeatedly lie. One and done is the way it goes. Besides, what is the DOJ supposed to think when they have evidence of highly classified material being concealed? They don’t want to tip anyone off so that the material can be moved, sold, etc. They’re going to go get it because that’s what they’re supposed to do.