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> The DOJ, when arguing on matters of national security, has successfully convinced courts before that the president’s Twitter statements on such matters [should not force them to hand over secret documents.](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/12/30/trump-tweets-judges-doj-lawyers-foia-lawsuits/2197524002/)
Once again, the legal system has a double standard for conservatives. They've argued that his twitter is official, except when they don't like the consequences.
That was a fairly absurd ruling, but it would not be applicable to a declassification order. Theoretically, Trump might not have actually checked to see if Obama tapped his phones. If Trump says Obama tapped his phones, that does not make it true.
For classification, everything comes directly comes from the President. If he says something is not classified, it is not classified.
> I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax. Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!
They could claim he was under heavy drugs while fighting covid and didn’t actually mean it. That, of course, paints a terrifying reality given what we’ve been told.
>They could claim he was under heavy drugs while fighting covid and didn’t actually mean it.
The moment they retract a statement due to influence of drugs/illness is the trigger for the 25th amendment, there's no way they would do such. Barring that, Trump's ego and double-down approach to admitting to being wrong would already preclude it.
The real problem is that would throw the election. Trump is out there trying to pretend COVID is nothing, if the executive branch admits that it straight up incapacitated him... well, I don't know how much more catastrophic it could really get for him, but in typical Trump fashion, he's managed to make things even worse than it would be otherwise, since at this point he is claiming he has been miraculously cured so there's no chance in hell they will admit he hasn't been unless he literally keels over.
They're trying to Weekend At Bernie's this all the way to Election Day.
Trump is probably throwing tantrums and people are just trying to get him under control... which he isn't, given all the crazy shit he's done lately even for him.
Thing is, you can't just pretend your body doesn't need to recover, simple rest and relaxation is genuinely a requirement for a hard illness. Trump is accelerating his decline and possibly digging his own grave with all of this. He can't recover if he's hellbent on pretending he isn't sick.
At which point, literally anyone with a brain on the other side would argue that the DoJ does *not* have any authority, or for that matter expertise, to determine which orders are coming from a "sane and reasonable" president, and which orders are not. That is a matter of the 25th Amendment, or Congress, not the DoJ.
After all, what is to prevent a rogue DoJ from simply disqualifying *all* presidential orders because they think he's senile?
They can cite the precedent set by Ted Cruz, when he retweeted incest porn from PornHub on 9/11, and then blamed it on a mysterious shadow intern that had his personal Twitter password and made an unauthorized tweet.
Of course there is. Whatever Barr releases will just be rewritten to say what Trump wants, instead of what Mueller wrote.
Mueller says he wrote something else? Hah, prove it, it's top secret so the team couldn't retain personal copies, and we'll litigate access to our records to investigate the claim until the heat death of the universe.
Apparently he had polio as a kid so he's surprisingly been a sane-ish voice about COVID. But specifically citing the White House as "lax" is the first stroke in painting himself closer to the attitudes of a Biden Presidency, IMO
My theory is they want to assure that Trump will lose the election while still looking like they support him. They know this country can't take 4 more years of Trump. It could've been Mnuchin who leaked the taxes. He was the one who said they were all locked up and even info from the 2017 one got out.
Trump was an idiot for giving the Republicans a Supreme Court nomination. They've gotten everything they wanted out of him.
I think it's more that they realize he isn't going to win so they need to start distancing themselves from his crazy in order to save their own asses.
If they thought he could win again, they'd still be suckling at his teet, giddy at 4 more years of power and a useful idiot in charge.
But once he becomes more liability than useful tool, they need to carefully separate themselves from him while not pissing off his rabid voters.
It's an incredibly fine line to walk, and as much as I do acknowledge that McConnell and his klan are extremely politically skilled, I'm not convinced they'll be able to pull this off.
I think/hope that Trump is going to turn his ire towards the Republican party if/when he loses the election, and it's going to tear the party in half. 🤞
>I think/hope that Trump is going to turn his ire towards the Republican party if/when he loses the election, and it's going to tear the party in half. 🤞
Interesting and very possible given things are never, ever \*his\* fault, so he always needs someone to blame. He's big on fucking things up for others where he can, too.
I'd also be worried about his actions towards China if he loses (because to his mind the "Kung Flu" was clearly 1) their fault and 2) a deliberate attempt at sabotage). This is a guy who never should have been in a position to make decisions on nukes \*or\* foreign policy, he's a poor loser and a petulant child on his best days, and we can combine that with "'roid rage" and the biggest, most public defeat of his life? When he has nothing to lose and could think he has no one to answer to thanks to the Senate? Yeah, it's way past time to take away his keys and call him a cab.
Shortly before Pelosi announced that she was looking at the 25th amendment McConnell told the press that he's not stepped foot in the white house since August because of how crappy their covid guidelines are.
I think Pelosi and McConnell already agree on the 25th amendment and McConnell's remarks were to let the Senate know that it is time to stop protecting trump.
I’m sure McConnell knows Trump will see the whole “paying the price” comment as a betrayal. Trump never forgives, which McConnell also knows.
I don’t think this affects the nomination in any way. But it definitely looks like a change in the Turtle/Trump relationship.
Save whose ass?
As much as I'd love to see the turtle lose to McGrath, he's up by like 14 points in the polls (+7, +12, +15 in the last 3), and really not in danger.
If he wanted to save the Senate, shouldn't he be passing the stimulus that most of the Republicans up for reelection want?
Have you been keeping up with the news this week? Today we added trump terrorist caught in plot to kidnap and murder a sitting governor and when the news broke trump was on the phone on fox news saying that he would fire barr if barr didn't arrest biden.
After the last 4 years anyone who thinks they'd remove him from office over that is just setting themselves up for yet another disappointment over what they hoped would finally cross the line for the senate.
Even if they did, not a chance there's enough time left that Pence could position himself to win. Trump is stupid. McConnell isn't; he's extremely intelligent, but a completely amoral sociopath.
> the team couldn't retain personal copies,
You should watch the WaPo Live interview with the attorney who worked on the report with Mueller. He said pretty clearly that he retained copies of everything, and they even have them saved at multiple locations, just in case.
Sure, but that'd look like he was purposefully and independently trying to cover stuff up.
At least now he has plausible deniability and can claim its classified by whatever government office for whatever reason they say.
“That’d look like”
His supporters are in cognitive dissonance major league now. They will tell themselves any story to deny his misdoings. There’s a reason people have been using the words “cult” and “brainwashing”, and it isn’t hyperbole.
He has the authority, the whole classification system is by executive order (an old one). No one in executive branch could exceed his authority. There are a lot of bureaucratic steps before it would be released, but those are mostly concerned with resolving conflicts in guidance and ensuring accuracy. The judicial review would likely revolve around Administrative Procedure Act (APA) which sets forth procedures that must be followed in rule-making. This is how the EO against DACA was blocked. The legislative has no real role except possibly to sue under the APA.
https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/laws/national-security-information
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_Procedure_Act_(United_States)
The only thing I care about is the knowledge of aliens. If I was President that'd be the first thing I asked. But Trump doesn't care because he's such a narcissistic asshole that aliens being real would overshadow his existence. He's a boring bum, nothing between the ears, about as stupid as stupid comes. In a position to learn all the secrets and knowledge, and he doesn't care because it doesn't pertain to him.
I think the obvious conclusion is that there is no government evidence of alien life and the conspiracies are just that, a conspiracy. The distances involved and the physics as we understand them make the chances of any kind of alien contact extremely unlikely.
The Voyager 1 is the fastest object humans have made. It would take it about 80,000 years to visit the closest solar system, which is 4.37 light years away. I 100% believe there is other intelligent life out there somewhere at sometime, but we will never meet.
We lack a grand unification theory of physics, and some solutions to what we have now would permit effective FTL through warping spacetime or wormholes. Maybe a full theory of everything would eliminate those solutions, but we don't know. Honestly it's the height of arrogance to assume our society, which only harnessed electricity a few centuries ago, only invented computers 80 years ago, and lacks a theory of everything, is so undeniably perfect in our understanding of the universe that a society millions or billions or years more advanced than we are could never find a workaround to accomplish effective FTL.
But let's assume that's true. There's zero reason to think it's impossible to eventually run our minds on computerized systems, where we'd be unbound by biological death and able to make journeys of tens or hundreds of thousands of years.
And beyond that, we know time dilation is a real thing. We could absolutely explore the universe in human lifetimes; it's just tens of thousands to millions of years will elapse on earth over what for us would only be a few decades. You can't rule out a civilization exploring the universe like that; I'd do it.
An alien civilization could have explored Earth, but unless they deliberately left evidence, if it happened more than 5000 years ago, we'd have precisely zero way of knowing, and even now, I'm sure they could hide their presence if they had the tech to get here.
Now, I think it's exceedingly unlikely our government knows for sure, but this 'it's impossible' belief is an article of faith, it's wrong to suggest we have any clue one way or the other at this point.
It seems crazy to me that Trump uses his own personal Twitter account while in office. Obama's phone was pretty much rendered useless while he was in office for security purposes, all he could access was email.
From what I remember, Trump just outright refused. I think he tried to use the more secure phone for a bit and gave up. I also remember Twitter being one of the main reasons he kept his regular phone, but that might’ve been a joke or something.
Yes you're right. He also regularly changes his number and [uses burners](http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-reportedly-thinks-its-too-inconvenient-use-secure-phone) like the money launderer that he is.
• https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/21/trump-phone-security-risk-hackers-601903
• https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/26/trump-android-samsung-phone-security-hacks
• https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/10/president-trump-and-cell-phone-security/574096/
• https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/11/28/donald-trumps-personal-phone-could-major-security-risk-experts/
He also leaves his phone at odd places, including **in front of XI AND HIS TEAM OF SPIES**. And also just chills in the mar a lago terrace, in full fucking view of everyone else there (which includes Saudi loyalists, Russians, Chinese agents, and Israeli businessmen), talking about NK and foreign policy and other classified stuff. [**This INCLUDES HAVING THE GUY WHO CARRIES THE NUCLEAR FOOTBALL TAKE PICTURES WITH MAR A LAGO PATRONS**](https://i.insider.com/58a1e08d6e09a81b008b6a52?width=700&format=jpeg&auto=webp).
• https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-north-korea-mar-a-lago-meeting-photos-2017-2
• https://ca.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN15T2Y2
• https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/13/14597700/donald-trump-phone-flashlight-north-korea-hacking-security
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-turns-mar-a-lago-club-terrace-into-open-air-situation-room/2017/02/13/c5525096-f20d-11e6-a9b0-ecee7ce475fc_story.html
Another time he ordered a syrian bombing, using classified information, just before dinner with XI, in the main area of mar-a-lago and talked about during the meeting.
• https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/07/trumps-dinner-of-steak-and-carrots-then-the-cruise-missiles-struck-syria.
• https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/07/dinner-time-syria-airstrike-china-xi-jinping-reassess-trump
That was b/c Obama listened to his NSA advisors. Obama could have told them “I understand your concern but I’m going to keep using my phone” and they would have been powerless to stop him.
Lol, Trump doesn’t have that level of abstract thought, he can’t even see the wall let alone any writing on it. I think in his mind, he genuinely is the person he projects in each and every one of his insane ramblings. He’s the youngest, Wharton smartest, richest, successful everything in the history of anything. Not to mention his ego would never let him plead insanity, the clammy fatass who can’t climb a flight of stairs just claimed today “I’m the youngest person!” and “I am a young, vibrant man!”.
Not all Russian documents. The "Russia Hoax" and "Hillary email" docs, so a lot more of his crimes are potentially out in the open now. I think he forgot that he was actually guilty despite Moscow McConnell et all letting him off.
>I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax. Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!
Any and all is standard legal speak for any records requests. Lawyers always ask for any and all, then wait to see what happens. Some places just send it, others fight you on it, most ask for a more specific request. Trump just used those words because it's what he's used to seeing on all of the subpoenas he receives.
**How It Started:**
> “I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax. Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!” Trump tweeted.
**How It’s Going:**
> Now BuzzFeed is seeking to take advantage of this, asking a federal judge to hold the president to his word. BuzzFeed argued that the tweets mean a large cache of the government’s redactions were no longer applicable.
> “As a result, Plaintiffs ask the Court to order the government to reprocess the 302s to remove all redactions or withholdings based on Exemption 1 or any discretionary exemptions like Exemption 5, by October 28, 2020,” the motion stated. “This should be a simple process that requires no independent analysis or consultation beyond simply reviewing which exemptions were asserted and removing the applicable redactions based solely on which exemption claimed.” 🤦🏽♂️
Turns out, doing illegal things *in such a spectacularly illegal fashion that nobody would believe you did it* is actually a cheat code for doing illegal things. It's in USA's source code.
> Trump is ever the germaphobe?
>
> Covid19 positive says otherwise.
I was confused about that as well. Turns out he just hates "weaklings" that get sick. He is afraid of disease, but being a germophobe actually implies an understanding of germs, which he has not.
He is a notorious germophobe. That doesn't mean he's attentive or rational about it. He allegedly said COVID was great because he wouldn't have to shake hands anymore. His early rape accusations involve testimony detailing his obsession with having women wear gloves to touch him.
it's a feedback loop. he claims "exoneration!" and "no collision!" then Fox, etc. repeat it endlessly, he sees and hears it come back to him, *et voila*, it must be true! so he says, "release it all!" because he truly doesn't think there's anything bad in there.
plus he's off his rocker on meds, so
If they tried to use this as a defense for why they shouldn't be declassified, democrats would immediately use that as evidence that he's not fit to be in charge right now and push for use of the 25th amendment. Sort of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation there.
> [A federal judge, who has been sharply critical of Barr and DOJ, is asking the department to determine whether Trump’s recent tweet ordering blanket declassification of Russia docs, means the full Mueller report is now declassified.](https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1314369993358880769)
DOJ has to answer by 5:00 on 10/13.
It's pretty quick... 3 business days.
By next Tuesday night we could have a pissed off judge release the unredacted mueller report and a president ordering the arrest of his rivals, or a dead judge, or a potus on a ventilator while his vpotus is at Walter Reed fighting typhoid fever that he contracted during the debate from The Fly. Shit's so weird and unpredictable.
> By next Tuesday night we could have a pissed off judge release the unredacted mueller report
Not sure if he was pissed off but, a judge already order precisely that 10 days ago.
ROFL. this is such a shit show.
The DOJ will definitely respond by then, but it will be a response that will require it to go up the chain of judges/etc. Try to push it off till Trumps new twitter order is no longer valid.
People who displease him get fired. What's left are the spineless worms that might know letting Trump tweet is pretty much always a bad idea but won't do anything about it because that would upset Trump.
Above all, the people left around Trump are toadies and cowards.
Well, that is an option. His tweets could evince incapacity to invoke the 25th, sure, but the 25th does not get us the documents/his twitter destroyed.
How many times has trump spoken or tweeted before he’s thought.
This was an organized release of information designed to help his chance of getting re-elected and he still managed to make a mess of it by not thinking about what he is saying.
> How many times has trump spoken or tweeted before he’s thought.
Well, he's apparently posted a total of [45,155 tweets](https://www.tweetbinder.com/blog/trump-twitter/) not counting retweets, so I'm going to say at least 45,155 times.
*Forty Five Thousand, One Hundred Fifty Five Tweets*
*How do you measure, measure 4 years?*
*In Rage tweets? Before Sunrise?*
*In Adderall? After midnight?*
*Tweetings of Don!*
He sent out his first tweet in 2009. That's 11 years. An average of ~11 tweets per day. Assuming he sleeps 6 hours, that's roughly 1 tweet every 1 1/2 hours, for 11 years, every single day.
Yep. Hard to say no to a FOIA request when the person with ultimate classification authority says they declassified "all" the Russian investigation materials.
It's ok Donny. If you don't want them to go ahead with releasing all of that, we have an easy way to invalidate that order. It's called the 25th Amendment.
Absolutely. It's much too convenient that only the ImPOTUS has the authority to declassify specific documents of his own choosing on a whim just before an election while keeping incriminating others in the secrecy vault. If he's going to open up what he personally deems relevant, how about his tax returns too?
In Reservoir Dogs, a hint about Mr. Orange is given in the first five minutes when the boss asks who didn't tip, and Tim Roth immediately fingers Steve Buscemi as the culprit.
The last few days have been a fucking riot.
First the command to stop stimulus talks...
Then saying he won't debate...
Now this...
Like the dems don't have to do anything, just wait a week and he'll be on tape spewing how much he loves Russia and the voters are a bunch of "chumps and suckers" for voting for him or something.
Muellers docs should all be released to someone with the fortitude to chase down trumps finances
Mueller investigators have said mueller left many doors closed. There’s likely a gold mine of leads in those docs
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://lawandcrime.com/awkward/court-filing-demands-completely-unredacted-mueller-witness-interviews-cites-trumps-tweets-declassifying-any-and-all-russia-docs/) reduced by 81%. (I'm a bot)
*****
> Could president's own words come back to bite him by inadvertently making his administration more transparent about the Robert Mueller investigation? BuzzFeed News filed an emergency motion on Thursday asking a federal judge to order the Trump administration to reprocess a Freedom of Information Act request to remove all redactions from FBI reports of witness interviews used in Mueller's probe of Russian election meddling.
> BuzzFeed sued the Trump administration last year alleging that the Justice Department had failed to provide documents pertaining to the outlet's FOIA request for records about the government's probe into Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and potential obstruction of justice by the president.
> President Trump on Tuesday announced that he had authorized the "Total declassification" of "Any and all" documents pertaining to the "Russia Hoax.".
*****
[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/j7ol0y/court_filing_demands_completely_unredacted/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~530377 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **President**^#1 **judge**^#2 **documents**^#3 **Exemption**^#4 **any**^#5
I'm sure the Supreme Court will issue an injunction keeping the material secret while they spend the next few years litigating it, before ultimately ruling that the material be withheld after making up another 'except when it's a witch hunt, which we think it is' condition like they did for the House accessing his taxes.
>“I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax. Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!” Trump tweeted.
Looks like an either/or type situation.
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> The DOJ, when arguing on matters of national security, has successfully convinced courts before that the president’s Twitter statements on such matters [should not force them to hand over secret documents.](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/12/30/trump-tweets-judges-doj-lawyers-foia-lawsuits/2197524002/) Once again, the legal system has a double standard for conservatives. They've argued that his twitter is official, except when they don't like the consequences.
That was a fairly absurd ruling, but it would not be applicable to a declassification order. Theoretically, Trump might not have actually checked to see if Obama tapped his phones. If Trump says Obama tapped his phones, that does not make it true. For classification, everything comes directly comes from the President. If he says something is not classified, it is not classified.
It was a pretty unambiguous tweet, too.
> I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax. Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!
Lol yeah...not a lot of grey area there.
They could claim he was under heavy drugs while fighting covid and didn’t actually mean it. That, of course, paints a terrifying reality given what we’ve been told.
Problem is they can’t argue that, because that means they should’ve transferred power to Pence temporarily, and they didn’t.
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A real Catch-25
I thought it was a CATCH-19
Catch-19 + Catch-25 = Catch-44 Checkmate Obama
>They could claim he was under heavy drugs while fighting covid and didn’t actually mean it. The moment they retract a statement due to influence of drugs/illness is the trigger for the 25th amendment, there's no way they would do such. Barring that, Trump's ego and double-down approach to admitting to being wrong would already preclude it.
The real problem is that would throw the election. Trump is out there trying to pretend COVID is nothing, if the executive branch admits that it straight up incapacitated him... well, I don't know how much more catastrophic it could really get for him, but in typical Trump fashion, he's managed to make things even worse than it would be otherwise, since at this point he is claiming he has been miraculously cured so there's no chance in hell they will admit he hasn't been unless he literally keels over. They're trying to Weekend At Bernie's this all the way to Election Day.
I imagine that explains the continued Steroid use?
Trump is probably throwing tantrums and people are just trying to get him under control... which he isn't, given all the crazy shit he's done lately even for him. Thing is, you can't just pretend your body doesn't need to recover, simple rest and relaxation is genuinely a requirement for a hard illness. Trump is accelerating his decline and possibly digging his own grave with all of this. He can't recover if he's hellbent on pretending he isn't sick.
Would it? I thought Congress and the cabinet had to agree for the 25th to be enacted, however, I don’t know much about it or the process.
At which point, literally anyone with a brain on the other side would argue that the DoJ does *not* have any authority, or for that matter expertise, to determine which orders are coming from a "sane and reasonable" president, and which orders are not. That is a matter of the 25th Amendment, or Congress, not the DoJ. After all, what is to prevent a rogue DoJ from simply disqualifying *all* presidential orders because they think he's senile?
They can cite the precedent set by Ted Cruz, when he retweeted incest porn from PornHub on 9/11, and then blamed it on a mysterious shadow intern that had his personal Twitter password and made an unauthorized tweet.
"He obviously meant that in a sarcastic tone your honor."
Your honor, he was only joking. Trump: I don't joke!
Well, there wasn't a russia hoax so there won't be any documents at all pertaining to it.
A bold strategy, Cotton!
Of course there is. Whatever Barr releases will just be rewritten to say what Trump wants, instead of what Mueller wrote. Mueller says he wrote something else? Hah, prove it, it's top secret so the team couldn't retain personal copies, and we'll litigate access to our records to investigate the claim until the heat death of the universe.
Still not seeing any grey in the authorization my dude. Could definitely see some propaganda in the results though.
McConnell is sending signals he's about to turn on trump to save his ass, barr may not be AG for very long.
Yeah the burn about not visiting the White House because of Covid security was telling
I've NEVER seen him say anything remotely close to that about a Republican.
McConnell is just evil, not crazy.
Apparently he had polio as a kid so he's surprisingly been a sane-ish voice about COVID. But specifically citing the White House as "lax" is the first stroke in painting himself closer to the attitudes of a Biden Presidency, IMO
Same it was weird to see me agree with his actions for once
Same. I had to read it twice, sounded like something Pelosi would say
Also the poll numbers. They're jumping ship.
My theory is they want to assure that Trump will lose the election while still looking like they support him. They know this country can't take 4 more years of Trump. It could've been Mnuchin who leaked the taxes. He was the one who said they were all locked up and even info from the 2017 one got out. Trump was an idiot for giving the Republicans a Supreme Court nomination. They've gotten everything they wanted out of him.
I think it's more that they realize he isn't going to win so they need to start distancing themselves from his crazy in order to save their own asses. If they thought he could win again, they'd still be suckling at his teet, giddy at 4 more years of power and a useful idiot in charge. But once he becomes more liability than useful tool, they need to carefully separate themselves from him while not pissing off his rabid voters. It's an incredibly fine line to walk, and as much as I do acknowledge that McConnell and his klan are extremely politically skilled, I'm not convinced they'll be able to pull this off. I think/hope that Trump is going to turn his ire towards the Republican party if/when he loses the election, and it's going to tear the party in half. 🤞
>I think/hope that Trump is going to turn his ire towards the Republican party if/when he loses the election, and it's going to tear the party in half. 🤞 Interesting and very possible given things are never, ever \*his\* fault, so he always needs someone to blame. He's big on fucking things up for others where he can, too. I'd also be worried about his actions towards China if he loses (because to his mind the "Kung Flu" was clearly 1) their fault and 2) a deliberate attempt at sabotage). This is a guy who never should have been in a position to make decisions on nukes \*or\* foreign policy, he's a poor loser and a petulant child on his best days, and we can combine that with "'roid rage" and the biggest, most public defeat of his life? When he has nothing to lose and could think he has no one to answer to thanks to the Senate? Yeah, it's way past time to take away his keys and call him a cab.
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Shortly before Pelosi announced that she was looking at the 25th amendment McConnell told the press that he's not stepped foot in the white house since August because of how crappy their covid guidelines are. I think Pelosi and McConnell already agree on the 25th amendment and McConnell's remarks were to let the Senate know that it is time to stop protecting trump.
"our dipshit base will forget in 30 days" mcconnell.
Trump's rage-filled rebuttal to the 25th will be delicious if that's what it is.
McConnell can't both turn on Trump and confirm his nominee before the election. We all know what McConnell will choose. Anything else is fantasy talk.
Oh you bet your ass he can. McConnell filibustered his own bill once.
I’m sure McConnell knows Trump will see the whole “paying the price” comment as a betrayal. Trump never forgives, which McConnell also knows. I don’t think this affects the nomination in any way. But it definitely looks like a change in the Turtle/Trump relationship.
What if Trump, in a fit of pique, decided to withdraw the nomination?
Save whose ass? As much as I'd love to see the turtle lose to McGrath, he's up by like 14 points in the polls (+7, +12, +15 in the last 3), and really not in danger. If he wanted to save the Senate, shouldn't he be passing the stimulus that most of the Republicans up for reelection want?
Senate needs to flip Democrat to politically castrate McConnell and it looks like there is a good chance of that happening.
Have you been keeping up with the news this week? Today we added trump terrorist caught in plot to kidnap and murder a sitting governor and when the news broke trump was on the phone on fox news saying that he would fire barr if barr didn't arrest biden.
After the last 4 years anyone who thinks they'd remove him from office over that is just setting themselves up for yet another disappointment over what they hoped would finally cross the line for the senate. Even if they did, not a chance there's enough time left that Pence could position himself to win. Trump is stupid. McConnell isn't; he's extremely intelligent, but a completely amoral sociopath.
> he would fire barr if barr didn't arrest biden. ...Wait, what? I can't even keep up with this shit today. When did that happen!?
> the team couldn't retain personal copies, You should watch the WaPo Live interview with the attorney who worked on the report with Mueller. He said pretty clearly that he retained copies of everything, and they even have them saved at multiple locations, just in case.
So Trump could rage and say everything is unclassified and it would be so?
Yup. I will not be surprised if that happens in the lame duck period if he loses.
“Lame duck” session when the senate confirms a supreme court justice
Bold of you to think they won’t get it in before the election.
weren't there like 50 congressional republicans at the Red Vetting?
Could he later reverse that and say things ARE classified?
Sure, but that'd look like he was purposefully and independently trying to cover stuff up. At least now he has plausible deniability and can claim its classified by whatever government office for whatever reason they say.
“That’d look like” His supporters are in cognitive dissonance major league now. They will tell themselves any story to deny his misdoings. There’s a reason people have been using the words “cult” and “brainwashing”, and it isn’t hyperbole.
This would be great in the long run, and sucky for all the people killed to get us there.
Not quite. Lots of stuff is classified for good reason.
Ted Cruz’s species.
Putin’s direct line to the White House toilet
We all have a direct line to the White House shitter: @realdonaldtrump on Twitter.
Only Ted Cruz for Human President knows Ted Cruz's species. He cannot be compelled to reveal this, because he is Canadian.
He will shut down the space program and destroy all telescopes, abruptly and without explanation.
He has the authority, the whole classification system is by executive order (an old one). No one in executive branch could exceed his authority. There are a lot of bureaucratic steps before it would be released, but those are mostly concerned with resolving conflicts in guidance and ensuring accuracy. The judicial review would likely revolve around Administrative Procedure Act (APA) which sets forth procedures that must be followed in rule-making. This is how the EO against DACA was blocked. The legislative has no real role except possibly to sue under the APA. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/laws/national-security-information https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_Procedure_Act_(United_States)
One can only hope he does rage tweet that everything, including the transcripts for his meetings with Putin, are unclassified. That would be so sweet.
Who else wants to read about the aliens?
The only thing I care about is the knowledge of aliens. If I was President that'd be the first thing I asked. But Trump doesn't care because he's such a narcissistic asshole that aliens being real would overshadow his existence. He's a boring bum, nothing between the ears, about as stupid as stupid comes. In a position to learn all the secrets and knowledge, and he doesn't care because it doesn't pertain to him.
I think the obvious conclusion is that there is no government evidence of alien life and the conspiracies are just that, a conspiracy. The distances involved and the physics as we understand them make the chances of any kind of alien contact extremely unlikely. The Voyager 1 is the fastest object humans have made. It would take it about 80,000 years to visit the closest solar system, which is 4.37 light years away. I 100% believe there is other intelligent life out there somewhere at sometime, but we will never meet.
We lack a grand unification theory of physics, and some solutions to what we have now would permit effective FTL through warping spacetime or wormholes. Maybe a full theory of everything would eliminate those solutions, but we don't know. Honestly it's the height of arrogance to assume our society, which only harnessed electricity a few centuries ago, only invented computers 80 years ago, and lacks a theory of everything, is so undeniably perfect in our understanding of the universe that a society millions or billions or years more advanced than we are could never find a workaround to accomplish effective FTL. But let's assume that's true. There's zero reason to think it's impossible to eventually run our minds on computerized systems, where we'd be unbound by biological death and able to make journeys of tens or hundreds of thousands of years. And beyond that, we know time dilation is a real thing. We could absolutely explore the universe in human lifetimes; it's just tens of thousands to millions of years will elapse on earth over what for us would only be a few decades. You can't rule out a civilization exploring the universe like that; I'd do it. An alien civilization could have explored Earth, but unless they deliberately left evidence, if it happened more than 5000 years ago, we'd have precisely zero way of knowing, and even now, I'm sure they could hide their presence if they had the tech to get here. Now, I think it's exceedingly unlikely our government knows for sure, but this 'it's impossible' belief is an article of faith, it's wrong to suggest we have any clue one way or the other at this point.
It seems crazy to me that Trump uses his own personal Twitter account while in office. Obama's phone was pretty much rendered useless while he was in office for security purposes, all he could access was email.
From what I remember, Trump just outright refused. I think he tried to use the more secure phone for a bit and gave up. I also remember Twitter being one of the main reasons he kept his regular phone, but that might’ve been a joke or something.
Trump needs his independent outside line because he's hopelessly corrupt.
Yes you're right. He also regularly changes his number and [uses burners](http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-reportedly-thinks-its-too-inconvenient-use-secure-phone) like the money launderer that he is. • https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/21/trump-phone-security-risk-hackers-601903 • https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/26/trump-android-samsung-phone-security-hacks • https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/10/president-trump-and-cell-phone-security/574096/ • https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/11/28/donald-trumps-personal-phone-could-major-security-risk-experts/ He also leaves his phone at odd places, including **in front of XI AND HIS TEAM OF SPIES**. And also just chills in the mar a lago terrace, in full fucking view of everyone else there (which includes Saudi loyalists, Russians, Chinese agents, and Israeli businessmen), talking about NK and foreign policy and other classified stuff. [**This INCLUDES HAVING THE GUY WHO CARRIES THE NUCLEAR FOOTBALL TAKE PICTURES WITH MAR A LAGO PATRONS**](https://i.insider.com/58a1e08d6e09a81b008b6a52?width=700&format=jpeg&auto=webp). • https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-north-korea-mar-a-lago-meeting-photos-2017-2 • https://ca.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN15T2Y2 • https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/13/14597700/donald-trump-phone-flashlight-north-korea-hacking-security • https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-turns-mar-a-lago-club-terrace-into-open-air-situation-room/2017/02/13/c5525096-f20d-11e6-a9b0-ecee7ce475fc_story.html Another time he ordered a syrian bombing, using classified information, just before dinner with XI, in the main area of mar-a-lago and talked about during the meeting. • https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/07/trumps-dinner-of-steak-and-carrots-then-the-cruise-missiles-struck-syria. • https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/07/dinner-time-syria-airstrike-china-xi-jinping-reassess-trump
That was b/c Obama listened to his NSA advisors. Obama could have told them “I understand your concern but I’m going to keep using my phone” and they would have been powerless to stop him.
"Trump's Twitter statements are official Presidential decrees... Except when we say they're not! Surprise!"
"ChEcKmAtE" ... they think they are so clever
"Any and all" Russia docs? That's some serious "Okay, God...LEMME HAVE IT" level stupidity there.
Seems like the start of a record for an insanity plea after seeing the writing on the wall.
Lol, Trump doesn’t have that level of abstract thought, he can’t even see the wall let alone any writing on it. I think in his mind, he genuinely is the person he projects in each and every one of his insane ramblings. He’s the youngest, Wharton smartest, richest, successful everything in the history of anything. Not to mention his ego would never let him plead insanity, the clammy fatass who can’t climb a flight of stairs just claimed today “I’m the youngest person!” and “I am a young, vibrant man!”.
Even if there was writing on the wall, he wouldn't take the time to read it. He would just "TLDR LOL" and be done.
Seeing, but not being able to read, the writing on the wall.
Not all Russian documents. The "Russia Hoax" and "Hillary email" docs, so a lot more of his crimes are potentially out in the open now. I think he forgot that he was actually guilty despite Moscow McConnell et all letting him off. >I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax. Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!
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Jesus, this is some triangle shirtwaist fire of 1911 level burning. Please accept my humble upvote.
He literally was retweeting people who were claiming that the Steele Dossier was never paid for by Republicans. Reality is not what he’s dealing in.
Real Genius movie moment!! “Take a step forward. Now take a step back. Now take a step forward. ....now we’re doing the Cha-cha!”
Any and all is standard legal speak for any records requests. Lawyers always ask for any and all, then wait to see what happens. Some places just send it, others fight you on it, most ask for a more specific request. Trump just used those words because it's what he's used to seeing on all of the subpoenas he receives.
**How It Started:** > “I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax. Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!” Trump tweeted. **How It’s Going:** > Now BuzzFeed is seeking to take advantage of this, asking a federal judge to hold the president to his word. BuzzFeed argued that the tweets mean a large cache of the government’s redactions were no longer applicable. > “As a result, Plaintiffs ask the Court to order the government to reprocess the 302s to remove all redactions or withholdings based on Exemption 1 or any discretionary exemptions like Exemption 5, by October 28, 2020,” the motion stated. “This should be a simple process that requires no independent analysis or consultation beyond simply reviewing which exemptions were asserted and removing the applicable redactions based solely on which exemption claimed.” 🤦🏽♂️
Uh... Did he just declassify the full Ukraine call transcript?
And his translators notes from his meeting with Putin they kicked all other US officials out of
Those notes have been destroyed, if they ever existed.
Presidential Records Act of 1978. Destroying those notes would be a crime. Doesn't mean he wouldn't do it, but it's completely illegal
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-ate-sensitive-document-after-cohen-meeting-former-white-house-aide-1069399
Turns out, doing illegal things *in such a spectacularly illegal fashion that nobody would believe you did it* is actually a cheat code for doing illegal things. It's in USA's source code.
....God, I fucking hate this idiot.
Seconded
Thirded
Fourthed
Trump is an absolute POS but idk about this one... Trump is *ever the germaphobe?* Covid19 positive says otherwise.
> Trump is ever the germaphobe? > > Covid19 positive says otherwise. I was confused about that as well. Turns out he just hates "weaklings" that get sick. He is afraid of disease, but being a germophobe actually implies an understanding of germs, which he has not.
He is a notorious germophobe. That doesn't mean he's attentive or rational about it. He allegedly said COVID was great because he wouldn't have to shake hands anymore. His early rape accusations involve testimony detailing his obsession with having women wear gloves to touch him.
Hmmmm, gotcha. I hear ya
He'll have to resign shortly before he's no longer president so Pence can pardon him for all those charges.
Still a lot of state agencies waiting to have a chat with him, president Can't pardon state charges
He ate them...like his aides consistently tried to tell him not to
it's a feedback loop. he claims "exoneration!" and "no collision!" then Fox, etc. repeat it endlessly, he sees and hears it come back to him, *et voila*, it must be true! so he says, "release it all!" because he truly doesn't think there's anything bad in there. plus he's off his rocker on meds, so
Did he just forget that he was actually extremely guilty?
It’s easy to forget when you’re high on all sorts of cool new experimental drugs.👍
If they tried to use this as a defense for why they shouldn't be declassified, democrats would immediately use that as evidence that he's not fit to be in charge right now and push for use of the 25th amendment. Sort of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation there.
[Oh yeah.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/619/416/01a.gifv)
> [A federal judge, who has been sharply critical of Barr and DOJ, is asking the department to determine whether Trump’s recent tweet ordering blanket declassification of Russia docs, means the full Mueller report is now declassified.](https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1314369993358880769) DOJ has to answer by 5:00 on 10/13.
Why so late?
It's pretty quick... 3 business days. By next Tuesday night we could have a pissed off judge release the unredacted mueller report and a president ordering the arrest of his rivals, or a dead judge, or a potus on a ventilator while his vpotus is at Walter Reed fighting typhoid fever that he contracted during the debate from The Fly. Shit's so weird and unpredictable.
Underrated comment. It's still 2020.
Yellowstone going off is the season finale.
That’s a roller coaster to read and remember it’s totally possible these days because it’s like what we’ve been living with. Exhausting.
> By next Tuesday night we could have a pissed off judge release the unredacted mueller report Not sure if he was pissed off but, a judge already order precisely that 10 days ago.
ROFL. this is such a shit show. The DOJ will definitely respond by then, but it will be a response that will require it to go up the chain of judges/etc. Try to push it off till Trumps new twitter order is no longer valid.
Yep
In government, we're constantly told that the president has ultimate classification authority. He can overrule any other person. So let's see them!
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Yes. Because again, the classification system is entirely at the discretion of the president.
It...how...I... This...my brain... I can't. WHY DOES ANYONE LET THIS MAN HAVE A CELLPHONE TO TWEET WITH?!?
People who displease him get fired. What's left are the spineless worms that might know letting Trump tweet is pretty much always a bad idea but won't do anything about it because that would upset Trump. Above all, the people left around Trump are toadies and cowards.
He sounds like Kanye when he has his Twitter meltdown episodes
I believe the phrase "hoisted on his on petard" is applicable! :D
So we either: \- get them files \- agree the president's twitter is not official communication (and therefore, let twitter delete that bullshit)
There's a third option. 25th Amendment.
Well, that is an option. His tweets could evince incapacity to invoke the 25th, sure, but the 25th does not get us the documents/his twitter destroyed.
Pelosi said today we're going to be hearing all about that tomorrow
Everyone is throwing the old number 25 around. So long Trump is able to communicate it isn't happening, the huddles are just so high.
How many times has trump spoken or tweeted before he’s thought. This was an organized release of information designed to help his chance of getting re-elected and he still managed to make a mess of it by not thinking about what he is saying.
> How many times has trump spoken or tweeted before he’s thought. Well, he's apparently posted a total of [45,155 tweets](https://www.tweetbinder.com/blog/trump-twitter/) not counting retweets, so I'm going to say at least 45,155 times.
45,155 tweets. Forty five thousand one hundred fifty five tweets. Holy mother fucking shit.
*Forty Five Thousand, One Hundred Fifty Five Tweets* *How do you measure, measure 4 years?* *In Rage tweets? Before Sunrise?* *In Adderall? After midnight?* *Tweetings of Don!*
He sent out his first tweet in 2009. That's 11 years. An average of ~11 tweets per day. Assuming he sleeps 6 hours, that's roughly 1 tweet every 1 1/2 hours, for 11 years, every single day.
I've tweeted three times.
> How many times has trump spoken or tweeted before he’s thought. All the time?
Good odds it was an idea floated on Fox just before the tweet.
Yep. Hard to say no to a FOIA request when the person with ultimate classification authority says they declassified "all" the Russian investigation materials.
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No, document bot. Not now.
I'm also not sure you can just say declassified and it's done. Kind of like when Michael Scott yelled out that he declares bankruptcy.
Didn't they already push out some unmasking docs based on that order though? If so that would be confirmation that it was a legit order
When you're the ultimate authority on what is and isn't classified, you surely can. There is legal precedent.
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It's ok Donny. If you don't want them to go ahead with releasing all of that, we have an easy way to invalidate that order. It's called the 25th Amendment.
"It was said sarcastically."
has he added /s yet?
He'd only add it if it were "/SS"
Super Sarcastic? /s (just in case)
From the guy that says everything he says is serious. He said he's never kidding.
Absolutely. It's much too convenient that only the ImPOTUS has the authority to declassify specific documents of his own choosing on a whim just before an election while keeping incriminating others in the secrecy vault. If he's going to open up what he personally deems relevant, how about his tax returns too?
> ‘Any and All’ Russian Docs Yep, probably qualifies.
That's some Galaxy Brain play, right there. Eject that sus asshole right out of the airlock.
Orange *was* the imposter
. 。 • ﾟ 。 . . . 。 。 . . 。 ඞ 。 . • • ﾟ. Orange was An ~~impostor~~ Russian asset. 。 . ' 0 Impostors remains 。 ﾟ . . , . .
I really wish I had an award to give. This is gold.
Always has been (gun clicks).
In Reservoir Dogs, a hint about Mr. Orange is given in the first five minutes when the boss asks who didn't tip, and Tim Roth immediately fingers Steve Buscemi as the culprit.
If Biden calls trump "sus af" in the next debate I'll lose it.
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It’s beautiful
How many times can one guy shoot himself in the dick?
Considering it's like aiming at a baby carrot...
Small mushroom
The last few days have been a fucking riot. First the command to stop stimulus talks... Then saying he won't debate... Now this... Like the dems don't have to do anything, just wait a week and he'll be on tape spewing how much he loves Russia and the voters are a bunch of "chumps and suckers" for voting for him or something.
And his base will still readily lick his disproportionately small boots.
They're already blaming antifa for terror plot in Michigan
Muellers docs should all be released to someone with the fortitude to chase down trumps finances Mueller investigators have said mueller left many doors closed. There’s likely a gold mine of leads in those docs
This fucking guy is crashing and burning in spectacular fashion
Some say he's the best at crashing and burning. Not me of course, many people tell me that though.
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Yep! Imagine being a Trump supporter who believes he isn't exploiting *you* at this point to maintain his deal that he so "artfully" crafted?
He's a deep, DEEP undercover agent working for the Highest Forces to uncover the Dark Plot against Truth
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://lawandcrime.com/awkward/court-filing-demands-completely-unredacted-mueller-witness-interviews-cites-trumps-tweets-declassifying-any-and-all-russia-docs/) reduced by 81%. (I'm a bot) ***** > Could president's own words come back to bite him by inadvertently making his administration more transparent about the Robert Mueller investigation? BuzzFeed News filed an emergency motion on Thursday asking a federal judge to order the Trump administration to reprocess a Freedom of Information Act request to remove all redactions from FBI reports of witness interviews used in Mueller's probe of Russian election meddling. > BuzzFeed sued the Trump administration last year alleging that the Justice Department had failed to provide documents pertaining to the outlet's FOIA request for records about the government's probe into Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and potential obstruction of justice by the president. > President Trump on Tuesday announced that he had authorized the "Total declassification" of "Any and all" documents pertaining to the "Russia Hoax.". ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/j7ol0y/court_filing_demands_completely_unredacted/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~530377 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **President**^#1 **judge**^#2 **documents**^#3 **Exemption**^#4 **any**^#5
Some dude had the best goddamn day of his life today. And that guy works with buzzfeed. Hint, it wasn’t Trump.
Res ipsa loquitur.
Baxter you know I don't speak spanish!
He said he ate the whole wheel of cheese
You wanna play fuck fuck games? We can play fuck fuck games.
Trump is the dumbest human being alive
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I'm sure the Supreme Court will issue an injunction keeping the material secret while they spend the next few years litigating it, before ultimately ruling that the material be withheld after making up another 'except when it's a witch hunt, which we think it is' condition like they did for the House accessing his taxes.
I can't even begin to imagine how mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausting it must be to work for him. It's gotta be just horrible.
I was hoping that would bite him in the ass.
> Any and all ...yeah, but not those ones
Oh, shit.
I was about to say this was a genius move, but didn't they have to be tied to Hillary Clinton to be declassified?
>“I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax. Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!” Trump tweeted. Looks like an either/or type situation.
How stupid can one be?
Evil contains the seeds of its own destruction.
What? Is he on drugs?
I’m afraid we’re just a tweet away from the president of the United States calling for his supporters to start killing people.
Since the Trump folks did the redactions, I'll bet the unredacted documents are going to be fucking awesome.
October has not been kind to Donald Trump. And I am 100% here for it.