Donald Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago was raided over his alleged possession of classified materials.
After a federal judge approved his request for a special master, the DOJ quickly appealed the order.
But Donald Trump just fired back at Biden’s Department of Justice and it left Barack Obama in a very awkward place.
DOJ argues “national security” and that Trump has “no cognizable property interest”
When Donald Trump’s home was raided there were a lot of items taken that fell outside the scope of the warrant.
That led Trump to his next logical step to request appointment of a special master.
A special master would allow for an independent voice to determine how to categorize evidence and safeguard the former President from any possible malfeasance.
The Justice Department quickly filed for an appeal and asked for a partial stay of the ruling.
In their filing they stated, “the classified records are government property over which the Executive Branch has control and in which the Plaintiff has no cognizable property interest.”
They stated it was necessary to issue the partial stay because, “the government and the public are irreparably injured when a criminal investigation of matters involving risks to national security . . .”
Upon receipt of the appeal, Judge Cannon issued a deadline for Trump to respond to their appeal.
But the Department of Justice didn’t see what was coming next.
Trump invoked an Obama era Executive Order
The Trump team quickly handed over a 21-page rebuttal to the Department’s claims.
In it they used Barack Obama’s own Executive Order against him.
Barack Obama issued EO 13526- Classified National Security Information on December 29, 2009.
According to the Obama White House Archives the executive order, “prescribes a uniform system for classifying, safeguarding, and declassifying national security information . . .”
In it, Obama stressed the importance of the fact that “democratic principles require that the American people be informed of the activities of their Government. Also, our Nation’s progress depends on the free flow of information both within the Government and to the American people.”
Based on the level of redactions and outrage over Trump’s possession of alleged classified materials – it seems the Democrats only favor an informed public when it’s beneficial to them.
Donald Trump is now turning Obama’s handiwork on him by citing EO-13526 in his response to the DOJ appeal.
His response cited the EO stating, “That Executive Order, which controlled during President Trump’s term in office, designates the President as an original classification authority.”
President has full classification authority over materials received or produced by his administration
This would mean, according to the EO, “There is no legitimate contention that the Chief Executive’s declassification of documents requires approval of bureaucratic components of the executive branch.”
Trump’s team further argues that the Presidential Records Act, “requires that all materials produced or received by the President, ‘to the extent practicable, be categorized as Presidential records or personal records upon their creation or receipt and be filed separately.’”
According to their argument, since “the PRA does not confer any . . . authority to the Archivist to classify records,” then it would be a matter, “left solely to the President.”
This means that if Donald Trump took only records conveyed to or created by his administration then he is ultimately the sole authority of classification under both President Obama’s EO and the Presidential Records Act.
Trump’s arguments are well-founded and have left the DOJ looking amateurish at best for their ill-conceived raid on Mar-a-Lago.
US Political Daily will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
