The 9 Dumbest Defenses for Trump Keeping Nuclear Secrets
Taking documents out of the White House automatically declassifies them…
Mike Davis, a Republican activist who bills himself online as the former Chief Counsel for Nominations at the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and a former law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, claims that Trump can declassify anything he wants and simply taking them out of the White House declassified the documents in his possession.
“Before Attorney General Merrick Garland’s spin: The President of the United States has both the constitutional (and statutory) power to declassify anything he wants. If President Trump left the White House with classified records, they are declassified by his actions. Period,” Davis tweeted.
But that’s simply not true.
While presidents have broad authority to declassify just about anything, it’s not clear Trump ever actually declassified the documents in his possession. If he had, it’s unlikely the National Archives would be so desperate to get their hands on them. Taking them out of the White House doesn’t automatically declassify them.
And while presidents can declassify just about anything, nuclear secrets still require more than a single president to declassify, according to legal experts who spoke with MSNBC last night.
“There’s an entire another law that comes into play here. It’s called the Atomic Energy Act. It has its own classification regime and Donald Trump could not declassify those records on his own,” said Bradley Moss, a national defense lawyer.
Taking documents out of the White House automatically declassifies them…
Mike Davis, a Republican activist who bills himself online as the former Chief Counsel for Nominations at the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and a former law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, claims that Trump can declassify anything he wants and simply taking them out of the White House declassified the documents in his possession.
“Before Attorney General Merrick Garland’s spin: The President of the United States has both the constitutional (and statutory) power to declassify anything he wants. If President Trump left the White House with classified records, they are declassified by his actions. Period,” Davis tweeted.
But that’s simply not true.
While presidents have broad authority to declassify just about anything, it’s not clear Trump ever actually declassified the documents in his possession. If he had, it’s unlikely the National Archives would be so desperate to get their hands on them. Taking them out of the White House doesn’t automatically declassify them.
And while presidents can declassify just about anything, nuclear secrets still require more than a single president to declassify, according to legal experts who spoke with MSNBC last night.
“There’s an entire another law that comes into play here. It’s called the Atomic Energy Act. It has its own classification regime and Donald Trump could not declassify those records on his own,” said Bradley Moss, a national defense lawyer.
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