re: Neil Gorsuch’s former law clerk says Trump has constitutional authority to declassify

quote:

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anyone with a cleared job would tell you as part of your training you learn the president is the ultimate classification authority. Don’t know what’s controversial.

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I do not think that the question in the minds of most people is whether the president CAN (in most cases) declassify a document. Clearly, the answer to this question is USUALLY “yes.”

The question in MY mind is whether Trump actually DID declassify sll these documents. As with most things, I tend to look at this from a legalistic perspective.

If a document is marked “Classified,” that designation creates a presumption that the document remains classified, absent proof that it has been “declassified.”

Obviously, the best such evidence is a memorandum prepared before the Inauguration and maintained in the official record. Trump does not HAVE any such memoranda (except as to one folder of Crossfire Hurricane documents).

Apparently, Trump is claiming that he declassified all of these OTHER documents, but just didn’t tell anyone or maintain any written record of his actions. Perhaps that will meet the burden of overcoming the presumption.

Perhaps not.