I think they are trying for #2. They are trying to find something, anything at all that could be considered illegal.
It's called Parallel Construction
As I understand it, the whole argument about declassified information doesn't hold up. Some documents taken by the FBI may have information about nuclear weapons or identities of spies etc. that are exempt from declassification. Furthermore, whatever information he has been keeping could have been reclassified by Biden.
He isn't the president anymore and has no power to decide what isn't and isn't classified, regardless of the content. So if nobody was informed about whatever it is being declassified at the time he was president, it is completely redundant to declare it declassified now.
As I understand it, the whole argument about declassified information doesn't hold up. Some documents taken by the FBI may have information about nuclear weapons or identities of spies etc. that are exempt from declassification.
Classification is mostly a matter internal to the Executive Branch. The Legislature can make laws about classification, but they are co-equal with the President and not his superior. As the head of state, the President doesn't doesn't have a clearance rating. Clearance is for everyone else. It is a bureaucratic way of saying "The President (or his designated subordinates) have allowed you to see this." When you say "it is illegal to declassify this", in reality is is illegal for anyone that is not the President to declassify it.
Furthermore, whatever information he has been keeping could have been reclassified by Biden.
True enough.
Clearance is for everyone else. It is a bureaucratic way of saying "The President (or his designated subordinates) have allowed you to see this." When you say "it is illegal to declassify this", in reality is is illegal for anyone that is not the President to declassify it.
This just isn't correct though. The president can not declassify nuclear secrets and take them home when he is voted out. He could do that with a number of other things, but the documents he allegedly took do not fall into that category.
I don't agree, but regardless that presumes the nuclear secrets meme is more than just a spurious rumor started by the bitter.
On the other side of the fence we think it was materials from the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, detailing how the Trump-Russia story was fabricated in the Clinton campaign and laundered to the media (in much the same fashion as the aforementioned nuclear secrets rumor).
That's good, I guess. But I think these feds might have some fallback ideas.
Either 1) keep Trump entangled in this legal drama through the primaries so that an acceptable challenger (presumably DeSantis) could unseat him, or 2) find something on this fishing expedition and charge him with something completely unrelated to this documents hoax.